Category: Events

Event: U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy

~ Matt Armstrong

image The U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy (USCCD), in partnership with the U.S. State Department and with the support of more than 1000 U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) conducting citizen diplomacy activities, will convene a historic U.S. Summit for Global Citizen Diplomacy on November 16-19, 2010 in Washington, DC. The goal of the Summit and ten year Initiative for Global Citizen Diplomacy is to double the number of American volunteers of all ages involved in international activities at home or abroad, from an estimated 60 million today to 120 million by 2020.

A detailed agenda is available online.

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Event: Influence and Propaganda Conference

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 2 Comments

The Information Operations Institute, in partnership with the MountainRunner Institute, invites you to attend the Influence and Fighting Propaganda Conference.

Identifying and countering propaganda and misinformation through dissemination that avoids the label of propaganda will be the key themes of the event. Discussions will explore who, how and why can people or groups be influenced, and difference between engagement from the lowest to the highest levels of leadership.

Russ Rochte, retired US Army Colonel and now faculty member at the National Defense Intelligence College, and I will co-moderate a panel on the media exploring the tension between “Media as an instrument of War” and the journalist’s traditional obligations to the truth, objectivity, informing the public, and verification. What is the impact on the media’s relationship with itself, its readers, and its sources as the media struggles for mind-share and relevance in a highly competitive environment of diminished resources, intensified news cycles, and direct audience engagement by news makers, and pressure to de-emphasize journalistic ethics. What constitutes the media and how does an organization like Wikileaks change the environment? How does this show in the natural conflict between the government and the media and how is it exploited by America’s adversaries?

This will be a two-hour panel, October 14, 10a-12p, with:

  • Wally Dean, Director of Training, Committee of Concerned Journalists (confirmed)
  • Jamie McIntyre, Host: “Line of Departure”, Military.com (confirmed)
  • Dana Priest, Washington Post investigative reporter (invited)
  • Bill Gertz, reporter for The Washington Times (confirmed)

The agenda for the conference is below.

Event website is here
Date: October 13-15 (2.5 days)
Location: Turning Stone Resort, Verona, New York (map)
Registration Fee: Students/Faculty: free; Government: $50; Military: $25; Corporate/Industry: $200
Registration: online or PDF

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Event: Conversations with America: Meeting the Millennium Development Goals

~ Matt Armstrong

Today, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah will hold a conversation with David Lane, President and CEO of ONE, on global development opportunities and challenges on the eve of the Millennium Development Goals summit. The discussion will be moderated by Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J. Crowley and streamed live on www.state.gov and DipNote, the Department of State’s official blog, at 10:15 a.m. on September 16, 2010. (EDT).

Members of the general public will have the opportunity to participate through the submission of questions, some of which will be selected for response during the live broadcast. For more information about the U.S. government’s strategy for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, please visit http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/mdg/.

Source: State Department Public Affairs

Event: Digital Statecraft: Media, Broadcasting, and the Internet as Instruments of Public Diplomacy in the Middle East

~ Matt Armstrong

Today, the Aspen Institute hosts a discussion on “digital statecraft” at its Washington, DC, office at DuPont Circle. Digital Statecraft: Media, Broadcasting, and the Internet as Instruments of Public Diplomacy in the Middle East will feature Walter Isaacson, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute and Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors; Eli Khoury, CEO of Quantum Communications, a leading advertising and communications firm in the Middle East; and Duncan MacInnes, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) in the Office of the Under Secretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

The topic is “the use of social and digital media as a tool to promote a vibrant civil society in the Middle East” and will include “insights and lessons learned from their extensive experience in the media sector and the region.”

The event will be webcast and archived on the Aspen Institute’s website. Lunch will also be served.

Date: today, Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Time: 12p – 1p

RSVP is requested: call 202-736-2526 or email maysam.ali@aspeninstitute.org.

See also:

Upcoming meeting of the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy

~ Matt Armstrong

From the Federal Register:

The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy will hold a public meeting on September 28, 2010, in the conference room of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, located at 1850 K Street NW., Fifth Floor, Washington, DC 20006. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. and conclude at 4 p.m. The Commissioners will discuss the findings of a joint research project of the Commission and the University of Texas at Austin on measurement of public diplomacy efforts. …

The public may attend this meeting as seating capacity allows. To attend this meeting and for further information, please contact Carl Chan at (202) 632-2823; E-mail: acpdpublicmeeting@state.gov. Any member of the public requesting reasonable accommodation at this meeting should contact Mr. Chan prior to September 23. Requests received after that date will be considered, but might not be possible to fulfill.

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Interested in the culture and history of Afghanistan from 1842 to the present day?

~ Matt Armstrong

image Too little is known in the US about the history of Afghanistan. History is something Americans tend to ignore, often to our detriment. We forget our history and ignore the history of others. Precedence is, in the American mind, reserved only for the law and not to the shaping perceptions or forming public opinion. This is a defect in our approach to global affairs. Such is the case with Afghanistan, where we failed to grasp (and ignored sage advice on) the impact of history on modern events.

Enter The Great Game: Afghanistan, an epic 3-part play (nine hours total) from the UK’s Tricycle Theatre, which explores the “culture and history of Afghanistan since Western involvement in 1842 to the present day.” This play begins its US tour in Washington, DC, next month. It then goes to Minneapolis, San Francisco, and New York. (Why no Los Angeles date? SF does not count.) Interestingly, and perhaps not surprisingly, the US tour is sponsored by the British Council in an example of cultural diplomacy.

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Event: Information Operations, the New Frontier in Full-Spectrum Warfare

~ Matt Armstrong

Information Operations: The New Frontier in Full-Spectrum Warfare is a continuing education course taught by Chris Paul through the Organizational Effectiveness Institute. It will be held September 20-21 in Washington, DC. From the course description:

Information Operations (IO), as currently practiced by the U.S. Military, encompass a broad range of capabilities designed to inform, influence, persuade, or deceive target audiences, and a collection of technical capabilities focused on impacting systems for storing or transmitting information. Formally, IO capabilities include Psychological Operations, Electronic Warfare,Computer Network Operations, Operations Security, and Military Deception. The relationships between the IO capabilities and other activities including conventional military operations, related and supporting capabilities, and strategic communication are not always well understood, nor are they optimally organized for specific undertakings. This class explores these relationships and presents clear definitions for all the elements as they appear in the formal doctrine, and as they function in practice. The implications of the different approaches are discussed in depth.
You will benefit by enhancing your understanding of the:
  • History and evolution of IO and its component capabilities.
  • Practice and the potential of IO capabilities.
  • Ways to organize IO and how these impact relationships between capabilities and operational effectiveness.
  • Power of information for influence in pursuit of campaign objectives.
  • Efforts related to IO, such as public affairs, strategic communication, and public diplomacy.

The course outline and online registration is available here.

Chris Paul is Full Social Scientist at the RAND Corporation, frequent contributor to MountainRunner, colleague, and author of the textbook Information Operations: Doctrine and Practice.

Event: Influence and Fighting Propaganda!

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 1 Comment

The IO Institute, in partnership with the MountainRunner Institute, presents a conference on Influence & Fighting Propaganda on October 13-14 at the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, NY.

The Information Operations Institute of the Association of Old Crows cordially invites you to attend a conference focusing on influence and propaganda.  Influence – what are influence factors, who can be influenced, how and why can people or groups be influenced, what are different approaches to influence and how is influence accomplished and how is it different at the personal level all the way to the national level?   Propaganda – what it is, enjoy a presentation of real examples of famous propaganda by infamous propagandists, discuss how we counter it, is it still going on today, how do we fight misinformation and how do we disseminate a meaningful message avoiding the label of propaganda?

On October 13 and 14, at the Turning Stone Resort in Verona, NY. Check below for the agenda. Online registration will be available soon.

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Now Media seminar is filling up

~ Matt Armstrong

wikileaks selected nodes

The Now Media training seminar by the MountainRunner Institute is nearly full. This all-day event takes place next week, July 6, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Tickets are still available, but not many. More information and registration can be found here: http://nowmedia.eventbrite.com.

As a special offer (and in part online experiment), I’ve made two tickets available at a special lower-than-the-now-expired Early Bird rate. Use the link above and enter the discount code "M100" or click here to register now to receive the discounted rate. These tickets are first come, first served, so if the website disallows the use of the code, these two particular tickets are already gone.

Whether or not you will be attending the event, please take a moment to fill out a pre-event survey to help us shape this fourth-generation event.

Visit http://nowmedia.eventbrite.com for more information on the seminar.

Early Bird pricing for Now Media symposium extended

~ Matt Armstrong

wikileaks selected nodes Early Bird pricing for next week’s symposium “Now Media: Engagement based on Information not Platforms” has been extended through this Wednesday. Sign-up now to guarantee a spot for you and possibly your team (group discounts are available).

This one-day event, presented by the MountainRunner Institute with the support of InterMedia, will develop greater understanding of today’s global informational and physical environment. Topics will include the cross-over of new to old media by Wikileaks (see the network diagram above developed by Ali Fisher of Mappi Mundi and Ali’s most recent post on MountainRunner), the cross-over from old to new media with the example of General McChrystal and the Rolling Stone, shifting from “target audiences” to “relevant participants,” and frank discussions on the organizational, doctrinal, and legal challenges (real and imagined) facing the US today.

Registration and more information may be found here.

Update: Interestingly, the Rolling Stone article has created increased interested in General McChrystal’s father, which in turn led to significant interest in a quote the late Major General Herbert McChrystal here at MountainRunner.

USA Lost and other depressing news

~ Matt Armstrong

Team USA lost to Ghana in the World Cup in a contest that went into extra time. The referring was not quite the factor it was in previous games, but the referee yesterday should have warned and even penalized Ghana for delay of game and pretending to be fouled. He did neither but in the end, that did not change the fact Team USA could not put the ball in the net, despite several good opportunities to do so.

South Korea, another team I hoped would make it to the next round, was also defeated.

Also depressing is the nominees for the Broadcasting Board of Governors have yet to be confirmed by the Senate. Senator Lugar’s report and Huffington Post article on the BBG has apparently had no effect on the primary opposition, which is still apparently Senator Tom Coburn. Hopefully the nominees will be confirmed immediately when the Senate returns.

Finally, my vacation in Hawaii is sadly coming to an end. However, on the brighter side, within hours of my return to the mainland, I’ll be on a plane to the 9th Annual Information Operations Europe Conference in London where I will speak on Tuesday about the convergence of old and new media. My presentation will focus on Wikileaks as an online propagandist whose products and influence transcend mediums as well as the timely if unfortunate example of the General McChrystal / Rolling Stone story.

Lastly, the upcoming seminar Now Media: Engagement Based on Information not Platforms takes place July 6 in Washington, DC. There is still space so sign up now. I will extend the “Early Bird” pricing to Wednesday, June 30. On July 1, the price goes up $100.

Lastly, you may have heard that the US military has renamed Psychological Operations (PSYOP) to Military Information Support Operations (MISO). Soup (and other) jokes aside, here is the memo from the Department of the Army that describes the change with the “direction and consensus of our most senior military leadership.”

Now Media: Engagement based on Information not Platforms

~ Matt Armstrong

mri_sm_300

On July 6, 2010, the MountainRunner Institute, a not-for-profit non-partisan think tank, with the support of InterMedia, presents a one-day training event to prepare you and your organization for today’s cyber and non-cyber challenges. Now Media: Engagement Based on Information not Platforms will help you gain a better understanding of the capabilities, capacities, and authorities necessary to be effective in today’s global informational and physical environment. Registration and more information may be found here.

Topics include:

  • The Convergence of “old media” and “new media” into Now Media;
  • Mobilizing and even creating “diasporas” that facilitate engagement pathways and challenge traditional views of nationalism;
  • Moving from “target audiences” to “relevant participants”;
  • Adversarial use of online media;
  • Frank discussions on the organizational, doctrinal, and legal challenges (real and imagined) facing the US today.

Date: July 6, 2010 
Time: 8:30a – 5p (light breakfast at 8a, lunch and refreshments will be provided) 
Location: National Press Club in the McClendon Room 
Cost: $300 before June 27, $400 June 28 and after; group discounts are available for 3 or more; credit cards are accepted.

Speakers:

  • Matt Armstrong, President, MountainRunner Institute; publisher of the blog MountainRunner.us
  • Adam Pearson, White Canvas Group; 
  • Duncan MacInnes, Acting Coordinator, Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State
  • A representative from InterMedia;

Attending the second half of the event are four Indonesian bloggers, including the "father of Indonesian blogging", that are in the United States under the auspices of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

Questions should be directed to Matt Armstrong at blog@mountainrunner.us.

Register today.

9th Annual Information Operations Europe Conference

~ Matt Armstrong

imageThe 9th Annual Information Operations Europe takes place 29-30 June 2010 at The Bloomsbury Hotel in London. The conference will provide information operations case studies from Afghanistan, future plans from the UK and an examination of New and Social Media from the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, the US Defense Department, NATO, and Canadian Forces, and others.

Day One – 29 June – starts with three keynotes from the UK MoD followed by 40 minute presentations by Sarah Nagelmann and Matt Armstrong. The UK MoD presentations look at the purposes, capabilities, and challenges of strategic-level information and influence operations. Sarah will discuss the new media strategy for NATO SHAPE and EUCOM. Matt will discuss the modern Now Media environment, with attention to Wikileaks, an interesting non-state global influencer.

Other presenters on Day One include Matt Bigge (“Technology Based. Human Enabled: The Future Of Cultural Information Engagement”), George Stein (“The Influence And Intelligence Opportunities Of Virtual Worlds”), Ed O’Connell (“Informal Network Analysis And Engagement In Conflict Zones”), and David Campbell (“Innovative Use Of The Media For Outreach In East Africa”).

Day Two – 30 June – is heavily focused on Afghanistan, with case studies and lessons learned.

See also:

Event: understanding the information-based global environment

~ Matt Armstrong

We live in a complex world. Concepts of “foreign” and “domestic” are merely myths as traditional gatekeepers and barriers of information are bypassed or manipulated as today’s battlefields over minds or territory are increasingly transparent. The past walls – be they costs, political, cultural, or geographic – are crumbling, circumvented, or simply gone. This has democratized influence, as well as destruction and disruption, as individuals and non-state actors can wield strategic power on par, and too often in excess of, with states.

On July 6, 2010, the MountainRunner Institute will, with the support of InterMedia, present a one-day training event to prepare you and your organization for today’s environment. Titled Now Media: engagement based on information not platforms, this discussion is designed to help you gain a better understanding of the capabilities, capacities, and authorities necessary to be effective in today’s global environment. While the emphasis is on actors and audiences relevant to national security, knowledge from the course will be readily applied in other areas. More information can be found here.

Topics include:

  • The Convergence of “old media” and “new media” into Now Media;
  • Mobilizing and even creating “diasporas” that facilitate engagement pathways and challenge traditional views of nationalism;
  • Moving from “target audiences” to “relevant participants”;
  • Adversarial use of online media;
  • Frank discussions on the organizational, doctrinal, and legal challenges (real and imagined) facing the US today.

Date: July 6, 2010
Time: 8:30a – 5p (light breakfast at 8a, lunch and refreshments will be provided)
Location: National Press Club in the McClendon Room
529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045 (map)

Cost: $300 before June 27, $400 June 28 and after; group discounts are available for 3 or more; credit cards are accepted.

Speakers: Matt Armstrong, President, MountainRunner Institute; Adam Pearson, White Canvas Group; a representative from InterMedia; and a special guest.

To register, send an email to Matt Armstrong at blog@mountainrunner.us.

MountainRunner in the UK for a public diplomacy conference

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 3 Comments

MountainRunner is in the United Kingdom for the Wilton Park conference “Public Diplomacy: Moving from Policy to Practice?” As the event is under Chatham House Rule, I will not tweet or blog about it. I’m looking forward to the next several days, which will include presentations and discussions with: Jeremy Browne, Minister of State, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Judith McHale, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs; Stefanie Babst, Deputy Assistant Secretary General, Public Diplomacy Division, NATO; Jimmy Leach, Head, Digital Diplomacy, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Peter Horrocks, Director, BBC Global News; Jan Melissen, Head, Clingendael Diplomatic Studies Programme (CDSP), Netherlands Institute of International Relations; Simon Anholt, and others. See the program here.

I considered renaming the blog “Fell Runner” while in the UK, but no…

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Now Media: engagement based on information not platforms

~ Matt Armstrong

On July 6, 2010, the MountainRunner Institute will, with support from InterMedia, present a one-day training event titled Now Media: engagement based on information not platforms. Whether you call it strategic communication, public diplomacy, public affairs, signals integration, or global engagement, this event is designed to help you gain a better understanding of the capabilities, capacities, and authorities you need to be effective in today’s global environment. While the emphasis is on actors and audiences relevant to national security, knowledge from the course will be readily applied in other areas. More information can be found here.

Topics include:

  • Convergence of “old media” and “new media” into Now Media;
  • Mobilization and even creation of “diasporas” through increasing access to information, ease of travel, fragmentation of social groups and decreasing demands on assimilation;
  • Adversarial use of online media to engage and influence audiences and media;
  • Identifying and understanding relevant audiences and measuring communication impacts;
  • Frank discussions on the organizational, doctrinal, and legal challenges (real and imagined) facing the US today.

Date: July 6, 2010

Time: 8:30a – 5p (light breakfast at 8a, lunch and refreshments will be provided)

Location: National Press Club in the McClendon Room
529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20045 (map)

Cost: $300 before June 27, $400 June 28 and after
Group discounts are available for 3 or more; credit cards accepted.

Speakers: Matt Armstrong, President, MountainRunner Institute
  Adam Pearson, White Canvas Group
  + representative from InterMedia
  + former leader of State Department’s public diplomacy operations

To register, send an email to Matt Armstrong at blog@mountainrunner.us.

Additional sponsorship opportunities are available.

Event: U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Business Meeting

~ Renee Lee

On May 25, 2010, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will hold a business meeting at the Capitol Building in S-116 at 2:15 p.m.

Presided by Senator John Kerry, the meeting will go over the following legislation:

  • S 3317: Haiti Empowerment, Assistance and Rebuilding Act of 2010
  • S 3193: International Cyberspace and Cybersecurity Coordination Act of 2010
  • S 3104: A bill to permanently authorize Radio Free Asia, and for other purposes
  • S Res 469: A resolution recognizing the 60th Anniversary of the Fulbright Program in Thailand
  • S Res 532: A Resolution recognizing Expo 2010 Shanghai China and the USA Pavilion at the Expo

The meeting will also review two nominations for the Broadcasting Board of Governors:

  • Michael P. Meehan to be a Member for a term expiring August 13, 2010
  • Dana M. Perino to be a Member for a term expiring August 13, 2012

If nominations are approved, all eight BBG nominees’ names will be on the Senate floor, subject to the final step in the confirmation process.

Information Operations Europe Conference

~ Matt Armstrong

The 9th Annual Information Operations Europe will take place June 29-30, 2010, at The Bloomsbury Hotel in London. The agenda for the first day is here and the second day is here. There will be a pre-conference war game on the 28th. In the lead up, the conference organizers created a document center (or centre) at www.info-opseurope.com that includes:

  • 3 podcast interviews: Matt Armstrong, Strategist and Lecturer; Bob Bevelacqua, Vice President of Programs at Leonie Industries; Simon Bergman, Managing Director, Information Options
  • 15 reports from the U.S. Army War College, including: Bullets and Blogs – New Media and the Warfighter; Learning to Leverage New Media – The IDF in Recent Conflicts; You Tube War – Fighting in a World of Cameras in Every Cell Phone and Photoshop on Every Computer
  • and more at www.info-opseurope.com.

I’ll be on the first panel discussion on the 29th with

  • Major General Gordon Messenger, Chief of Defence Staff, Strategic Communications Officer, UK MoD
  • Air Commodore Robert Judson, Head of Targeting and Information Operations, UK MoD
  • Brigadier Mark Van der Lande, Head of Defence Public Relations, Directorate General and Media Communications, UK MoD
  • Sarah Nagelmann, Strategic Communications Advisor to US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO

Later the same day I present “Understanding and Engaging Now Media.”

If you’ll be there, let me know.

Event: Policy, Operations and Knowledge Transfer in Post Conflict Environments

~ Matt Armstrong

image Today at The George Washington University in Washington, DC: Policy, Operations and Knowledge Transfer in Post Conflict Environments: Security and Safety in a Changing World. Speaking at the event are Doug Brooks, president of International Peace Operations Association and African security issues specialist, and Tom Seal, former Deputy Director
of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement who managed programs in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Hosting is Larisa Breton.

Today: May 12th 2010 at 5:00 to 6:30 pm
At: The Marvin Center, 800 21st Street NW, Conference room 310

RSVP to Larisa_b@gwmail.gwu.edu.

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