No, the Smith-Mundt Act does not apply to the Defense Department, and it never did

This post appeared at mountainrunner.substack.com on 22 February 2023. It has been slightly modified here for clarity. Subscribe to my free substack for new posts through email, the web, or through the substack app. Posts are copied here when I get around to it. The misinformation around the Smith-Mundt Act now borders on willful disinformation. It is really quite fantastic. … Continue reading No, the Smith-Mundt Act does not apply to the Defense Department, and it never did

The Smith-Mundt Symposium of 2009: a discourse about America’s discourse

This post first appeared at mountainrunner.substack.com on 20 December 2022. It appears here with minor edits. Be sure to check there for comments on the article and subscribe to my substack for timely follow-ups and new posts through the substack app, through email, and to participate in chats. It’s free! This post is a step … Continue reading The Smith-Mundt Symposium of 2009: a discourse about America’s discourse

Correcting Misinformation around the Smith-Mundt Act Seventy-Seven Years after it was Introduced

On January 24, 1945, Congressman Karl Earl Mundt, Republican from South Dakota, introduced a bill “to transmit knowledge and understanding to the greatest number of people” across the Pan American Union. The method would be exchanging elementary and high school teachers in training. Put another way, the Mundt bill was a scholarship program for student-teachers … Continue reading Correcting Misinformation around the Smith-Mundt Act Seventy-Seven Years after it was Introduced

Smith-Mundt Symposium of 2009

2009 Smith-Mundt Symposium On January 13, 2009, a week before President Obama was sworn in, nearly two hundred people participated in the Smith-Mundt Symposium at the Reserve Officers Association on Capitol Hill. This “discourse on America’s discourse” consisted of two keynotes, four panels, and one of the most diverse groups ever brought together.  Practitioners to … Continue reading Smith-Mundt Symposium of 2009

Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 introduced in the House

Last week, Representatives Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Adam Smith (D-WA) introduced a bill to amend the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 to “authorize the domestic dissemination of information and material about the United States intended primarily for foreign audiences, and for other purposes.” The bill, H.R.5736 — Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 (Introduced in … Continue reading Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 introduced in the House

Ambassador George V. Allen, Smith-Mundt, and the Voice of America

“The real Voice of America is the voice of the thousands of newspapers, periodicals, public speakers, public officials, private groups, or individuals – anyone and everything which, if fused together by some magic process, would make up the articulate and composite voice of the 147 million people of the United States. If our shortwave program is to be the true Voice of America, it will reflect their views, not so much as expressed in quadrennial elections but in their day-to-day lives.”

Holmes, Caldwell, Psy-Ops and the Smith-Mundt Act

The recent Rolling Stone article by Michael Hastings has brought to the surface a debate over the difference between “inform,” “influence” and the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948. In his article “”Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators,” Hastings relies heavily – if not entirely – on the statements by Lieutenant Colonel Michael Holmes … Continue reading Holmes, Caldwell, Psy-Ops and the Smith-Mundt Act

Yes, there is No Smith-Mundt Act in India, nor anywhere else (except Japan?)

My colleague John Brown notes in a post that there is “No Smith-Mundt Act in India.” The context was an article by Rajiv Bhatia in which Bhatia wrote Indian diplomats that “rightly maintain that public diplomacy has to do with both foreign an domestic audiences.”  John’s reference to the Smith-Mundt Act is the artificial division … Continue reading Yes, there is No Smith-Mundt Act in India, nor anywhere else (except Japan?)

Reforming Smith-Mundt: Making American Public Diplomacy Safe for Americans

The impact of the “firewall” created by Smith-Mundt between domestic and foreign audiences is profound and often ignored. Ask a citizen of any other democracy what they think about this firewall and you’re likely to get a blank, confused stare: Why — and how — would such a thing exist? No other country, except perhaps North Korea and China, prevents its own people from knowing what is said and done in their name.

Reforming Smith-Mundt: Making American Public Diplomacy Safe for Americans

Reforming Smith-Mundt: Making American Public Diplomacy Safe for Americans by Matt Armstrong, 2 August 2010, at World Politics Review. American public diplomacy has been the subject of many reports and much discussion over the past few years. But one rarely examined element is the true impact of the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which for all practical purposes … Continue reading Reforming Smith-Mundt: Making American Public Diplomacy Safe for Americans

Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2010 (Updated)

On July 13, US Congressmen Mac Thornberry (TX-13) and Adam Smith (D-WA), both members of the House Intelligence and Armed Services Committees, introduced “The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2010” (H.R. 5729), a bipartisan bill to revise an outdated restriction that interferes with the United States’ diplomatic and military efforts. The Smith-Mundt Act, formally known as … Continue reading Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2010 (Updated)