BLUF in writing

When writing a document for business and academic purposes, BLUF helps in writing the message and argumentation because it features prominently a main "what" and "so what". Stating the key judgment and significance up front sets up the argument, ensures the message is clear, and highlights why the reader should care about the document. In order to create a reader-friendly prose, writers structure their paragraphs using BLUF format to better aid the reader's ability to recall the paragraph's main idea or content. BLUF-structured topic sentences are applicable when writing literature review, experimental results, and argumentative essays.

The BLUF style can also be routinely seen in executive summaries, reports, subject lines in e-mails, and abstracts in scholarly articles. The intention to place the bottom line at the onset is done because executives tend to focus on problem solving. It may be applied directly to the format of a résumé to prevent it being too long or wordy. In certain technical writing, BLUF may be considered desirable. It has also been advocated for scholarly articles. BLUF gives brevity in communication. This conciseness in communication comes from placing at the start the conclusion the summarized vital information and actions.

In journalistic writing, BLUF resembles the inverted pyramid structure for the latter also aims to serve the readers well by arranging the story elements in descending order of importance. Like the inverted pyramid structure in which the story's conclusion is already contained in its lead, writing in BLUF structure adheres to brevity and clarity so that readers can understand the message right away without sacrificing essential facts and without having to reread the message.

Army writing is effective when it is functional. It is when it satisfies the writer's and the intended readers' purposes effectively (adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result). The BLUF model is designed to state upfront the purpose of the message and the required action to be taken. It is intended to respond quickly to the Five W's: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. This kind of writing requires precision and direct to the point statement that would enforce fast and clear communications. Their subject lines use keywords in all caps to note the email's purpose, such as info (for informational purposes only), request (seeks permission or approval by the recipient), and action (the recipient must take some action.) The following example is an example of a BLUF message from the Air Force Handbook: "BLUF: Effective 29 October 2013, all Air Force Doctrine Documents (AFDDs) have been rescinded and replaced by core doctrine volumes and doctrine annexes". Another example comes from the U.S. offensive in Iraq in 2007: "The battle against al-Qa'eda in Diyala, Operation Arrowhead Ripper, is expected to last for weeks. The end state is to destroy the al-Qa'eda influences in this province and eliminate their threat against the people".

Along with the military professionals, analysts from the intelligence community also use the BLUF. Intelligence analysts often start an assessment with their Bottom Line Up Front. Their analytic reports are often drafted for busy policymakers possessing limited time for consumption of information and who therefore prefer the main points and judgements plainly presented at the beginning. For example, CIA Reports and Estimate 34-39's bottom-line-up-front judgment assessed Soviet intentions in Latin America, especially on what the Soviets would attempt:

(1) winning support of Soviet positions by exploiting certain patterns in Latin American life that facilitate the Communist approach and by taking advantage of specific incidents for propaganda purposes; (2) reducing the extent of Western Hemisphere solidarity by exploiting historical antagonisms, opposed intensely nationalistic sentiments, and conflicting national interests; (3) causing dissention between political factions in some countries (particularly Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Cuba, and Guatemala) to the point of impairing political stability and of shifting the balance of power; (4) taking direct military action by harassing sea lines of communication between the US and Latin American through submarine action and by landing sabotage agents and small commando parties; and (5) and most important, reducing Latin American economic support of the US in several important fields.

This assessment by an intelligence analyst suggests that potential Soviet actions in Latin America may increase and do so nefariously. These types of BLUF judgments were discussed often at the U.S. National Security Council meetings after WWII up to the early 1950s.

Another example would be the Muslim insurgency in Mindanao, with the following BLUF: Substantive resolution of a decades-long Muslim insurgency in Mindanao is unlikely anytime soon despite the signing of peace agreements between Manila and the separatist militants. Several entrenched obstacles to resolution suggest that the conflict will continue to drain the Philippines' scarce security resources, thus limiting its ability to pursue greater military cooperation with its security partners, and that parts of Mindanao will remain a haven for terrorists. Endemic poverty, corruption, powerful political opposition, factionalism, Manila's weakness in resources and capacity, and inflexibility on outcome hamper both sides.

The importance of BLUF in the intelligence community may be summarized as follows:

"These busy men and women rely on clear, concise, and accurate intelligence reporting to make daily decisions that affect U.S. national security, U.S. policies, and the lives of U.S. servicemen and -women. Arranging your intelligence reporting in the BLUF format helps them efficiently locate and comprehend the information they need".

Harvard Business Review has written ways to write email in military precision. Kabir Sehgal, the author, have enumerated three main ways to format emails with military precision: (1) Subject with key words - Key words specify the nature in email (e.g. Action, Sign, Info, Decision, etc.); (2) Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) - Emails should be short that basically answers the 5W's: who, what, when, where, and why; (3) Be Economical - short enough to understand and covey all the details. Using of Active voice is highly mandates rather than using passive voice".

It has been recommended that BLUF be used in writing policy papers and memos. This is because policymakers have short attention spans, given that they have much work to do. They may not appreciate lengthy prose and verbosity. They only want the essential information, so as not to get bogged down into details.

In writing policy papers and memos, military professionals, intelligence analysts, policy analysts, and the like need to include any second-order or third-order effect in their BLUF. The inclusion upfront of the result of the direct result of an action or change will entice the busy policymakers to read the whole memo or set it aside and read later. To illustrate, Title IX's college sports regulation makes sure women and men have the same rights. Women and men must be equal in both athletic scholarships, and the male-female ratio of athletes needs to match the school's student ratio. This is a first-order effect – more women get to play sports and receive scholarships. However, due to financial constraints, football is the only sport that makes money, and there is not a women's sport with an equivalent number of players. Hence, if the school wants to have a football team, they will also have to have five women's sports teams before adding another men's sport. A second-order effect is schools are (economically) forced to drop some of the less common men's sports teams. A third-order effect may be the sport loses popularity over time (wrestling is an example).

Applying this to the policy world, the two examples show this BLUF structure with a second-order effect: (1) The Philippine President will probably sign key legislation for the peace accord, but opposition elements are likely to challenge the law in court and thwart implementation. (2) An Islamic militant group is publicizing the terrorist activities of its supporters in the region as part of a media campaign to promote the group's network there, which encourage foreign fighters to travel to the region.