Bottom line upfront: A multi-dimensional “whole-of-government” approach requires a will to act from the president. It does not require a proper strategy, just a will, which is substantially more than a whim. Structure and method will follow and provide, as long as the will is there to push, give a backstop, and hold efforts accountable and on track. Without the president’s commitment whatever happens will be tactical and reactionary. This is demonstrably true in the area of foreign information operations.
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Diplomacy’s Public Dimension: Books, Articles, Websites #98
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Diplomacy’s Public Dimension: Books, Articles, Websites #97
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DHS, Social Media, & the Smith-Mundt Act
There is considerable confusion around what the Smith-Mundt Act does and does not do, specifically with regards to the United States government disseminating information within nation’s borders. The irony of this misunderstanding is thick and multilayered.
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Shortwave Radio: Reaching Dissidents in China? Good theory, but…
Shortwave radio was a mainstay of international news and information programs. It was the “new media” embraced to bypass and overcome the censorship of cables, the “old media.” This was particularly true in the United States. Radio broadcasting was seen as such an important and critical element to our national security a century ago that the Secretary of the Navy, a newspaper owner interested in the psychological defense of the nation, tried several times to nationalize wireless transmitters. He may have failed, but he contributed to forcing a British firm to sell their U.S. broadcasting assets which became the Radio Corporation of America. Indicative of the importance of the medium,…
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The Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs: an updated incumbency chart and some background
Since the office was established and the first Under Secretary was sworn in on October 1, 1999, the office has been vacant 36% of the time. To be more precise, the office has been "unencumbered" with a confirmed Under Secretary for 35.8% of the days since October 1, 1999.
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Comment on “The lost art of ideological warfare”
There are plenty of discussions today, and for the past many years, about “information warfare,” “ideological warfare,” and, more rarely, “political warfare.” While some may read these as largely synonymous terms, they should convey different meanings which translates into a differing understanding of the threat and thus the response required.
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The two-sentence review of my “The Politics of Information Warfare in the United States”
It is nice to have your work reviewed. This is especially true when the product is otherwise “locked” away behind a paywall of an “academically” priced book (translation: the cost is several multiples of a reasonable price). That joy is subverted a bit when a review lacks clarity and may be interpreted to claim the opposite of what I wrote. This happened recently with a review that appeared in Parameters, a quarterly magazine from the US Army War College. The review was of my contribution — a 9500-word, footnoted version of my War on the Rocks article from January 2017, “The Past, Present, and Future of the War for Public…
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Diplomacy’s Public Dimension: Books, Articles, Websites #96
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Thou Shall Stop! is not a strategy
Articles appear periodically on how the United States, or its allies, could improve its game in today’s decentralized information environment. So many that it is often hard to keep up, so if I criticize one here — like I’m about to do — it may be no more than happenstance that another didn’t appear in its place.
