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Peter C. Johnson 1991-1993
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I began this two-year period doing free-lance business writing, emphasizing network development, marketing materials, presentations, and proposals. But in 1992, I was asked to be part of an American effort to locate Prisoners of War and men Missing in Action (POW/MIA) who had allegedly been incarcerated by the U.S.S.R. from 1945 until the present. I was posted to Washington and Moscow. My technical communication duties in that assignment are worth examining.
Liaison and coordination. The job required working with Russian and American government officials and ordinary people, some of whom were cooperative, some of whom disrupted our efforts. My skills had to span two, sometimes three cultures, orally and in writing.
Briefing and presentation. My reports and graphics required a Soviet point-of-view and style. I was chosen by the American ambassador to be the first uniformed U.S. officer to present his work in the Kremlin since World War II.
Abstracting and analysis. Our team had to process over 6,000 documents in Russian and English, assess them for value, and catalog them. Many were Top Secret and above, and required declassification.
Technology. Because of my civilian background in data processing, I helped steer storage of the documents on CD ROM, and helped the development of an Oracle query system to retrieve them.