Methodology

This page explains how a briefing on this site is made. It is deliberately short. If something here is unclear, or you think the method has failed in a specific briefing, the Corrections log is open.

How a document is selected

The site works from the public record. A document earns a briefing when two things are true. First, it is a primary record: a government, military, contractor or agency file, a cleared book, a hearing transcript, or a long-form interview. Second, it is either new to the public record, or it has not yet been read carefully in plain language. Preference goes to documents that can be linked back to an original a reader can open. The site does not try to cover every file. It tries to cover the ones a reader would want explained properly.

How a claim is checked

Every quote is taken verbatim from the document or transcript it is attributed to. Dates, names, document numbers and figures are read from the primary source itself, not from press coverage of it. Where a document is ambiguous, the briefing says so, rather than resolving the ambiguity for effect. Where press coverage and the document disagree, the document is followed and the discrepancy is noted. Each briefing separates, in plain terms, what a document establishes from what it only suggests. Nothing is presented as proven that the source does not prove.

The evidence tier

Every briefing and note carries an evidence tier, from T1 to T4, that rates how direct and verifiable its underlying source is. The tier rates the source, not the verdict: a strong tier means the source is solid, not that anything anomalous occurred. The four tiers are set out in full on the Evidence Standards page.

What this site will not publish

The site will not present unsourced rumour as fact. It will not name private individuals who are not already public figures in the record. It will not claim a document proves more than it does. It will not chase speed at the cost of accuracy: a briefing is published when it is right, not when it is first. When the site gets something wrong, the error and the fix are recorded on the Corrections page, rather than quietly edited away.

This site is a single-author project. It has no special access and claims none. Its only method is careful reading, plainly explained, with the original always one link away.