Rest in Peace, Jeff Jones

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 3 Comments

A belated announcement:

Colonel Jeffrey B Jones, US Army Retired, passed away on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at his home in Alexandria, Virginia, after a heroic battle with brain cancer. A 1971 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Jeff served his country In Important assignments throughout his 30 year Army career and In civilian roles thereafter. His contributions most Impacted national defense In the areas of psychological operations and strategic communications, and he served as Commander of the 8th PSYOP Battalion during Desert Shield and Desert Storm followed by roles in the National security Council and the Council on Combating Terrorism. In addition, Jeff led 50 officers from 16 nations In Lebanon in the UN Truce Supervision Organization, and he was the Joint Staff Representative on the U.S. Nuclear and Space Negotiations Team In Geneva that conducted arms control negotiations with the former Soviet Union. His final military assignment was as the U.S. Defense Attaché in Paris, France, where he was credited with helping to improve U.S.-Franco relations. Even after leaving the government in 2005, Jeff continued to be involved in developing concepts and approaches for strategic communications as a Senior Associate at the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. He is survived by his wife of 31 years, the former Pamela Kettle of Alexandria, VA; along with his mother, Sarah Smith Jones, and his brother, James F. Jones, Jr., both of Hartford, CT. Friends may gather at the Athenaeum In Old Town Alexandria, 201 Prince Street on Saturday, February 13 from 4 to 6 p.m. interment with Full Military Honors will take place at Arlington National Cemetery, Wednesday, May 12, beginning with services at 1 p.m. at the Old Post Chapel at Fort Meyer. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made In Jeff’s name to The Johns Hopkins University Brain Cancer Program, Dr. Blakeley Neuro-Oncology Research and Education Fund, c/o office of Development; Department of Neurology, 100 N. Charles Street, Suite 401, Baltimore, MD 21201.

I was fortunate enough to meet Jeff several times. He was a good man that will be sorely missed.

Public diplomats receive public thanks

~ Matt Armstrong

Minister Władysław Stasiak, the awarded: Yale W. Richmond, Scott Righetti, Muriel Joffe and Ambassador of the Republic of PolandThis week, Poland honored three Americans – including friend Yale Richmond – for their years of public diplomacy work expanding the Fulbright program into Poland. The “state distinctions” were awarded on 8th February 2010 in Washington, DC, by the Head of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, Władysław Stasiak. This was noted on the official blog of the President of the Republic of Poland.

Yale W. Richmond received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Yale W. Richmond has been employed as a diplomat by the State Department for thirty years, working on issues connected with cultural and academic exchanges with other countries, including Poland. As a cultural attaché of the U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Poland, in 1959, he initiated an academic exchange programme which developed into the Polish Fulbright Programme. Thanks to his efforts and dedicated work, the authorities of the Polish People’s Republic consented to American lecturers visiting the country and Polish scholars going to America as part of the Fulbright Programme scholarship exchange. Later on in his life, Yale W. Richmond worked for the National Endowment for Democracy, personally contributing to the NED supporting the NSZZ Solidarity movement financially and materially, both during the period of martial law in Poland and afterwards.

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Upcoming travel

~ Matt Armstrong

I will be in DC next week to conduct the Information as Power seminar (there is still space to enroll), present at the open meeting of the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy (see link for information on attending), speak with a class at National Defense University, and for several other meetings. I’ll be back in Los Angeles in time to teach my public diplomacy class at the University of Southern California (syllabus, 189kb PDF).

As such, blogging will be slim over the next week. As always, guest posts are welcome. I’m particularly interested in commentary on the QDR, the latest DSB report (seriously?), and the potential impact the recent Supreme Court decision on political speech on global engagement, specifically on the public diplomacy “firewall” and influence by non-US interests (have you seen this?).

Berkowitz responds, discussing the Smith-Mundt Act

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 2 Comments

The following is Part II of a discussion between Jeremy Berkowitz and Matt Armstrong on Jeremy’s paper “Raising the Iron Curtain on Twitter: why the United States must revise the Smith-Mundt Act to improve public diplomacy” (PDF, 415kb). Part I is Matt Armstrong’s initial response to Jeremy’s paper available here. My response to the below, Part III, is here. Jeremy Berkowitz:

I want to thank Matt for his thoughts on my paper. I appreciate his comments and strongly respect his scholarship on the Smith-Mundt Act. I would like to discuss a few of the ideas he raised in his critique. I believe some of his criticism is well-founded and I could have more precisely conveyed my ideas in certain areas. Yet, I also believe that some of his criticism is misguided either due to simple disagreements or misunderstandings of my paper.

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Quadrennial Strategic Reviews

~ Matt Armstrong

Strategic review time.

Here is the Defense Department’s website for its Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), a “legislatively-mandated review of Department of Defense strategy and priorities.” On February 3, DOD hosted a blogger roundtable discussion on the QDR with Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs Michael Nacht and Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Forces Kathleen Hicks.

Here is the Department of Homeland Security’s website for its Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR), a document that “offers a vision for a secure homeland, specifies key mission priorities, outlines goals for each of those mission areas, and lays the necessary groundwork for the subsequent steps.” DHS is hosting a teleconference roundtable (this blogger was invited but cannot attend) February 5 with DHS Assistant Secretary for Policy David Heyman to discuss the QHSR. (Good outreach.)

Here is the Department of State’s website for its Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR)… wait. Never mind. There’s nothing substantial at State’s website except the July 10, 2009, press release and a related blog post at DipNote four days later. It is due this month, possibly within days, a State Department spokesman told Federal News Radio. No word if State will host a discussion like DOD or DHS to reach out beyond the ‘traditional’ media in the press room.

Stay tuned…

Alan Heil: Challenges ahead for U.S. international broadcasting

~ Matt Armstrong

Alan HeilRecommended: Alan Heil’s The Ever-Expanding Global Electronic Town Meeting: Challenges ahead for U.S. international broadcasting at Layalina’s Perspectives:

Imagine an electronic town meeting of person-to-person communications, writ large. So large, in fact, that it encompasses the entire planet, digitally. Entering this arena is the primary challenge to U.S. publicly-funded civilian overseas networks in a new decade, as 21st century international broadcasting approaches its adolescent years amid unpredictable geopolitical and technological challenges. …

As outlined below, agenda items in the new decade could include a review of broadcast priorities, increasing coordination among networks, exploring the use of social media and information sharing, expanding training programs, pursuing a public-private partnership, and strengthening protections for objective and accurate journalistic standards. …

The bottom line: international broadcasting can set the record straight instantaneously (as in real-time news reporting of events in Iran, China, Burma, Haiti, and terrorism’s deadly toll). But it is also long-range; listening to and reflecting over time countless conversations of "collective groups" about how to improve individuals’ lives in an ever-expanding global electronic town meeting. It can enrich the blogosphere in this lively marketplace of ideas, while empowering publics as never before. May the new leadership of U.S. international broadcasting seize the moment. The 21st century adolescent years of their trade can truly be a time of renewal central to the growing global engagement that America seeks.

Read the whole essay here.

What does Microsoft and State’s Bureau of International Information Programs have in common?

~ Matt Armstrong

In today’s The New York Times, Dick Brass, a former Microsoft Vice President (1997-2004), describes a corporate paralysis that stifles the release of relevant and innovative products in his op-ed, Microsoft’s Creative Destruction.

As they marvel at Apple’s new iPad tablet computer, the technorati seem to be focusing on where this leaves Amazon’s popular e-book business. But the much more important question is why Microsoft, America’s most famous and prosperous technology company, no longer brings us the future, whether it’s tablet computers like the iPad, e-books like Amazon’s Kindle, smartphones like the BlackBerry and iPhone, search engines like Google, digital music systems like iPod and iTunes or popular Web services like Facebook and Twitter. …

Microsoft’s huge profits — $6.7 billion for the past quarter — come almost entirely from Windows and Office programs first developed decades ago. Like G.M. with its trucks and S.U.V.’s, Microsoft can’t count on these venerable products to sustain it forever. Perhaps worst of all, Microsoft is no longer considered the cool or cutting-edge place to work. There has been a steady exit of its best and brightest.

What happened? Unlike other companies, Microsoft never developed a true system for innovation. Some of my former colleagues argue that it actually developed a system to thwart innovation. Despite having one of the largest and best corporate laboratories in the world, and the luxury of not one but three chief technology officers, the company routinely manages to frustrate the efforts of its visionary thinkers. …

What does Microsoft’s “Creative Destruction” have in common with the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP)? According to Pat Kushlis of the public diplomacy blog Whirled View, too much. Pat drew my attention to the Dick Brass op-ed and had these comments, published here with permission:

Read the last paragraphs in particular and just substitute the initials IIP because that’s precisely what happened to a forward thinking bureau when State took over.

If the [International Broadcasting Bureau, the administrative and marketing arm of the Broadcasting Board of Governors,] were functional, I think I would argue that IIP should be transferred out of State and put into a functional international broadcasting entity (like VOA) since the line between electronic media has changed so dramatically.  Unfortunately the IBB is dysfunctional too.

Is this a viable, even preferred, alternative to reconstituting the United States Information Agency?

BMW: Fostering sustainable partnerships to build bridges of understanding

~ Matt Armstrong

Of possible interest is the following received this morning from BMW. It is an example of the parallel paths of corporate social responsibility and public diplomacy:

The BMW Group is pleased to announce its first call for submissions for the Award for Intercultural Commitment. The company is looking for intercultural initiators worldwide whose goal is to motivate people from diverse backgrounds to encounter one another with open minds and to take committed action. With the Award, the BMW Group aims to support the best projects and thus contribute to their lasting success. To this end, the company offers award winners customized support services as well as a financial “jump start”.

The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2010. The award ceremony will take place in Munich, Germany, on 18 November 2010. You will find further information about the Award in the enclosed press release and flyer as well as on www.bmwgroup.com/award.

From the press release (110kb DOC):

“To make intercultural understanding work, it is necessary to establish a multifaceted culture that is open to people from different cultural backgrounds and environments,” emphasizes Harald Krüger, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG and Chairman of the award competition. “The BMW Group Award for Intercultural Commitment is intended to make a contribution by motivating people to enter into an open dialog and pull together.”

See also their flyer (544kb PDF).

Now for the disclaimer: Neither MountainRunner or Matt Armstrong has an affiliation with BMW Group. The information above is provided as an instructive example of a corporation practicing public diplomacy.

See also:

US International Broadcasting as an Untapped Resource

~ Matt Armstrong

Recommended: US International Broadcasting: an untapped resource for ethnic and domestic news organization (PDF, 139kb) by Shawn Powers.

The American approach to public service broadcasting, which is severely underfunded when compared to the rest of the world, is also legally separated from U.S. international broadcasting, a firewall that inhibits effective collaboration between either. Indeed, the problem is worse, as U.S.-funded international broadcasting is prohibited from disseminating its journalistic features within the U.S., a ban that prevents effective use of its significant journalistic resources by both public and private news networks in the United States. including a large sector of ethnic media that could surely benefit from the 60 languages that American international broadcasting reports in. For comparison, the BBC, the world’s most respected news institution, houses all of its international and domestic news services in the same newsroom, therefore maximizing the benefits of a diverse and large staff while limiting costly redundancies. This paper argues for further collaboration between government funded international broadcasting and its domestic counterparts — both public and private — and thus for policies that match the reality of today’s information ecology.

Shawn’s paper is a welcome contribution to the need to break down the firewall of the revised Smith-Mundt Act. The original purpose of the institutionalization of US international broadcasting in 1945 (the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 was first introduced in October 1945) was to fill a gap in reaching non-US audiences that US media could not. Testifying before a House Appropriations Committee in 1946, the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs stated the purpose of US government broadcasting:

Our number one policy is to encourage private agencies to do the job. We propose only to fill in the gaps where, and when private agencies cannot do the job.

Today, in a twist on the question about a tree in the forest, if America’s media does not cover an event, does it really happen? The retreat of US domestic media from overseas is troublesome for America’s global affairs. America’s media focus on speed over accuracy and a short-attention span prevents not only informing the American public, but of legislators, policy makers, and even the media itself. 

Shawn’s paper should be required reading by Congress and the State Department.

One minor comment on the paper: Shawn implies the language “for examination only” in Section 501 of the Act / Section 1461 of US Code was in the original legislation. It was, in fact, inserted by Senator Fulbright. 

See also:

Foreign Affairs for the 21st Century by Bill Kiehl

~ Matt Armstrong

Friend Bill Kiehl offers a remodel of the State Department at Layalina, Foreign Affairs for the 21st Century:

To re-right the balance in America’s national security structure, the Department of State must be broadened into a true Department of Foreign Affairs (the original name by the way) and like the Department of Defense should be restructured to accommodate the many roles it must play. Within the Department of Foreign Affairs there could be semi-independent sub-departments, similar to the departments of the individual services in the Defense Department, to deal with traditional diplomacy (i.e. state-to-state relations), public diplomacy (similar to the former USIA), foreign assistance (USAID), foreign trade (USTR, FCS, FAS etc.), stabilization and reconstruction (in league with DoD). These Departments within the Department of Foreign Affairs could function as the Department of Diplomacy, the Department of Public Diplomacy, the Department of International Development, the Department of International Trade, etc.

Read the whole thing here.

See also:

  • A Proposal for Reorganization at Foggy Bottom – my proposal to reorganize State
  • Hitting Bottom at Foggy Bottom at FP.com
  • Reorganizing Government to meet hybrid threats at the Stimson Center

Book review by Dennis Murphy on the Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy

~ Matt Armstrong

handbookpublicdiplomacy[1]Dennis Murphy reviews the Routledge Handbook on Public Diplomacy edited by Nancy Snow and Phil Taylor.

To address these shortcomings and provide a balanced, and heretofore lacking conceptual framework [for public diplomacy], Nancy Snow and Philip Taylor have pulled together an impressive number of academics and practitioners to lay the foundations of the concept in the 29 chapters of this handbook.  Organized topically into six parts, the editors have attempted to provide a resource with wide-appeal ranging from the lay-person interested in public diplomacy to the advanced practitioner. …

The “Handbook of Public Diplomacy” is a worthy effort that provides a broad conceptual framework for the increasingly important national security field of public diplomacy. It is recommended reading for all who study, practice and are interested in the application of the information element of power in support of national objectives.

Read the whole review here. Support this blog and go to Amazon and buy the book or something else using this link.

The Voice of America: Origins and Recollections by Walter Roberts

~ Matt Armstrong

American Diplomacy has several interesting articles this month, including a historical review by Walter Roberts, The Voice of America: Origins and Recollections:

Beginning in 1937, the failure of the Executive Branch to reach a decision regarding the establishment of a governmental radio station led to a shift in initiative from the Department of State to Congress. Gregory calls it “a change that was marked by the introduction in both the House and the Senate of several bills.” Their sponsors, in particular Congressman Emmanuel Celler (D- NY), argued that every other nation was prepared to see that the world understands its point of view – yet the U. S.  was at the mercy of the propaganda of other countries without the ability to present its own position. The year was 1937 and German-Nazi and Italian-Fascist propaganda were in full swing.

The Congressional sponsors of a government short wave station found themselves fiercely opposed by the private broadcasters of this country. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) passed a resolution in June 1937 opposing any governmental international radio station. Within the Executive Branch there was no unanimity and the President was not willing to support the establishment of a government radio station.  The plan died in early 1940.

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How Public Diplomacy Worked in Practice by Hans Tuch

~ Matt Armstrong

imageHans “Tom” Tuch reflects on US public diplomacy in Germany over three decades, from 1950 to 1982, at American Diplomacy. In How Public Diplomacy Worked in Practice, Tom describes the value of America’s overseas libraries, resources that today have been cut back or hidden to the point of being, in some cases, nearly useless.

[T]he America House library was "open-shelf" where people could select and check out books of their choice.  We did not immediately realize the democratizing impact of our open-shelf library until a frequent visitor, the city librarian who was also the director of the University library, told us that in rebuilding both libraries, he would convert them to open-shelf institutions, the first in the Federal Republic. A German researcher later wrote that one could not underestimate the success of the America Houses in introducing Germans to a new open-shelf library system, which made libraries attractive institutions. The principal impact of the America Houses, she wrote, was in influencing and changing the view of America among the German people. Through the medium of the library it was possible, she concluded, to persuade many Germans to regard America positively and often admiringly.

See also:

Leader for State’s Bureau of International Information Programs to remain a “Coordinator”

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 2 Comments

For reasons that are beyond me, I heard a rumor that the leadership of State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP) will remain a “Coordinator” and not be an Assistant Secretary. In 2008, then-Under Secretary Jim Glassman successfully created the new position, but as of yet, it has remained unoccupied. (Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy Mike Doran was nominated but never confirmed.) The move was to put IIP on equal footing with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and the geographic bureaus, all of which are headed by assistant secretaries.

Perhaps this decision will be explained in the yet-to-be-released public diplomacy strategy of Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale.

Your thoughts?

One Nation Under Contract – A Book Review Essay by PHK

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 3 Comments

From the first recorded use of mercenaries four thousand years ago, through the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, and until the nineteenth century, mercenaries were regular features of war. It was not Westphalia that disarmed mercenaries, but a confluence of nationalism, technology, and increasing interstate trade that marginalized them. It would be another two hundred years after the birth of the modern state before states would effectively hold each other accountable for the actions of their citizens, started linking the projection of force to a specific geographic territory, and consolidated the decision to personally volunteer and fight in wars away from the people and into the hands of the governments of states that private militaries were “de-legitimized, de-democratized, and territorialized”. The same consolidation seen in privateers was also evident in commercial enterprises as activities from the territory of state was viewed as sanctioned by that government.

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Assistant Secretary for Education and Cultural Affairs

~ Matt Armstrong

According to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations website, the confirmation hearing for Judith Ann Stock to be Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs will be held Tuesday, February 2, 2010. Testimony will be here (PDF) but it is not yet available (and likely getting polished). (Hat tip to Mark Overmann of the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange.)

Still no word on a nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP). Unlike the ECA job, Judith McHale, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, will get to choose this person. IIP is currently headed by an Acting Coordinator, a very capable retired FSO who just started a six month (maximum) contract. He took over early this month from the previous coordinator, who after retiring as Coordinator mid-2009, opted against renewing his post-retirement six month contract in December.

Perhaps Judith, confirmed in May, wanted to finish her public diplomacy strategy that was briefed to staff Thursday after a long development and a very close hold. The Secretary apparently signed off earlier this month.