Berkley Center discussion with Matt Armstrong

~ Matt Armstrong

A Discussion with Matt Armstrong, Executive Director, MountainRunner Institute, on the Uses and Limits of New Social Media by Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs, 15 December 2009, at Georgetown University.

…New social media democratizes influence. Anybody can influence anybody. Today, the gatekeepers are challenged, bypassed, or ignored. People who may have been alienated or oppressed are now able to come together and make their voices heard, regardless of culture, ethnicity, location, or even language.

…Apart from democratizing influence, social media makes information both global and hyperlocal as it makes it extremely accessible. Social media is also visceral… you see videos and you have a greater sense of being there than reading text.

…Social media, like the Internet in general, is in many ways a double-edged sword. While it can empower people for positive goals and causes, it can help others do the opposite. There are groups online for teenagers that cut themselves, there are groups on anorexia and how to do it better, there are deviant groups and hate groups. Terrorists benefit from using new social media, especially YouTube, as propaganda and recruiting tools. They no longer have to wait for media coverage to spread their message, now terrorists put their videos online in 30 minutes. Furthermore, terrorists can be their own media crew now. They, not NBC, not CBS, package and send out their message and the global media picks up on it.

US Government Meets New Media

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 5 Comments

From Helle Dale at The Heritage Foundation, Public Diplomacy 2.0: Where the U.S. Government Meets “New Media”:

Public diplomacy and strategic communications experts within the U.S. government are exploring the potential of the new social media in the effort to win hearts and minds abroad, especially in the Muslim world where today’s war of ideas is being fought. Enemies of the United States are already expert in using these low-cost outreach tools that can connect thousands, potentially even millions, at the touch of a computer key or cell phone button. As public affairs blogger Matt Armstrong writes,

In this age of mass information and precision guided media, everyone from political candidates to terrorists must instantly and continuously interact with and influence audiences in order to be relevant and competitive. Ignoring the utility of social media is tantamount to surrendering the high ground in the enduring battle to influence minds around the world.

… When employed strategically, social-networking sites clearly offer potential for U.S. public diplomacy to reach younger, tech-savvy audiences around the world. Social-networking sites can also be cost-effective and run with relatively low overhead. Yet, nothing can replace the power of person-to-person contact and individual exposure to American culture. Furthermore, the unevenness of global technological progress means that a variety of media will remain critical to spreading the U.S. message. As part of a clear and calibrated U.S. government communications strategy, however, Public Diplomacy 2.0 can be a valuable tool.

I would add that there is the convergence of new and old media into Now Media makes intense focus on “new media” channels as distracting and potentially dangerous. As Helle Dale notes, person to person contact remains essential. Even in America’s social media world, studies indicate online relationships that have by real world connections are far stronger than those without.

A powerful, important, and too often ignored is the use of the online media by our adversaries. We require culturally aware, linguistically capable actors in the same languages and cultures we are operating in the “meat space.” What you see in your English-language search of Google or YouTube is not the same list as an Arabic-language search using the same .com site. How many know that? This is a far more dangerous world than many realize. Helle Dale’s recommendations are valid but are ultimately a small part of the solution. The institutional dysfunction across Government and the extreme lack of awareness of the requirements in both the executive and legislative branches overshadow any advantage of these recommendations. We have surrendered primary battlegrounds in the struggle for minds and wills. It is time to reverse this and answer counter the highly damaging propaganda of our adversaries.

Related:

Report: Al Qaida kills eight times more Muslims than non-Muslims

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 3 Comments

A recently released and unreported report from West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center has some fuel for the struggle of minds and wills. Deadly Vanguards: A Study of al-Qa’ida’s Violence Against Muslims (PDF, 875kb) is a survey of attacks carried out by Al Qaeda that should be part of a counter-narrative to Al Qaeda’s broadly accepted proposal that they are the champions of Muslims. For too long we have accepted the propaganda of the enemy, allowing him to set the time, place, and vocabulary, all to his advantage. He declared the war was between us and them and we agreed. It wasn’t and it isn’t.

From the report:

The results show that non‐Westerners are much more likely to be killed in an al‐Qa’ida attack. From 2004 to 2008, only 15% percent of the 3,010 victims were Western. During the most recent period studied the numbers skew even further. From 2006 to 2008, only 2% (12 of 661 victims) are from the West, and the remaining 98% are inhabitants of countries with Muslim majorities. During this period, a person of non‐Western origin was 54 times more likely to die in an al‐Qa’ida attack than an individual from the West. The overwhelming majority of al‐Qa’ida victims are Muslims living in Muslim countries, and many are citizens of Iraq, which suffered more al‐Qa’ida attacks than any other country courtesy of the al‐Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI) affiliate.

It is interesting to note that the percentage of non‐Western victims increased in the more recent period at the same time that extremist scholars, pundits, and supporters are questioning the indiscriminate use of violence and the targeting of Muslims. Al‐Qa’ida leaders stress that these individuals are not formal members of the organization, but recognizes their legitimacy as scholars and intellectual contributions to the movement nonetheless.

It is a short and required read. Supporting data fills most of the report’s 56 pages. See Deadly Vanguards: A Study of al-Qa’ida’s Violence Against Muslims.

Funny thing happened on the way to the newspaper

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 3 Comments

A funny thing happened to some facts on their way to the newspaper this week. Last week, on November 23, I blogged on the slate of nominees for the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The night of the 24th I updated post with additional information for Michael Meehan to highlight that he was previously nominated by President Bush to the Board so that it read “…(previously nominated to the Board by President George W. Bush and a business partner of the husband of Judith McHale’s Chief of Staff ).”

A week later on November 30, Al Kamen of The Washington Post’s “In the Loop” graciously mentioned me as pointing out Meehan has a connection to the office of the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, but did not mention the previous nomination.

Then today, the December 2 edition of “In the Loop” noted what my blog said for the prior week, that Meehan was first nominated by Bush. Where was the clarification that my post had that important data point Kamen’s researcher ignored?

For all the congratulatory email I received for the “In the Loop” mention, there was no noticeable change in the number of visitors to the blog – although digging deeper I found there were an unusual number of visitors from The Washington Post domain – so if I hadn’t known I was mentioned, I wouldn’t have known I was in one of the – if not the – most read gossip columns. Either not many cared about the Meehan-DiMartino connection or not many of Kamen’s readers follow the links he provides to read the source. There’s also the possibility that Kamen’s readers who care about public diplomacy already read this blog and knew the week before about the connection and the previously nomination.

The initial spin on the story was not surprising, the spin in today’s correction was. I’m implicitly portrayed as the one who did not write on Meehan’s previous nomination. Ah, the media.

Event: Public Diplomacy and the United States Information Agency

~ Matt Armstrong

At the USC Washington, DC, office Thursday, December 10, 2009:

A reception and discussion to celebrate the publication of The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989, new in paperback.

Discussion to include Dr. Nicholas J. Cull, Professor and Director, USC Master of Public Diplomacy program, and Dr. Michael Schneider, USIA veteran and Professor of Practice, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University

Time and place:

Thursday, December 10, 2009
6:00 pm

USC Washington DC Office
701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 540
Washington, DC 20004
(Navy Memorial metro station)

RSVP here.

Event: The Abolition of USIA and Its Effects on U.S. Public Diplomacy

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 2 Comments

At The Heritage Foundation December 9, 2009, 10a – 11:30a: The Abolition of USIA and Its Effects on U.S. Public Diplomacy. Speakers include Joe Duffey, Bill Kiehl, Stephen Johnson, Robert Schadler and hosted by Helle Dale.

Founded in 1953, the mission of the United States Information Agency (USIA) was to “understand, inform and influence foreign publics in promotion of the national interest, and to broaden the dialogue between Americans and U.S. institutions and their counterparts abroad.”  For years, USIA was the U.S. government’s public diplomacy arm, charged with telling America’s story abroad.  Ten years ago, USIA was disbanded and its functions were folded into the State Department under the management of Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy.  Since then, U.S. public diplomacy has fallen upon hard times.  The new administration has repeatedly proclaimed that U.S. engagement in the world would be revitalized and yet there has been little change at U.S. foreign policy’s lead agency.  Our panelists will analyze the changes that U.S. public diplomacy has gone through in the past 10 years and what should be done to improve America’s ability to “understand, inform and influence foreign publics in promotion of the national interest.”

I won’t be there but RSVP here if you want to be there. I’m interested in your feedback on the discussion.

News aggregators for Public Diplomacy / Strategic Communication

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 4 Comments

Several resources that comb news sites and blogs for what they believe is relevant information for those in public diplomacy, strategic communication, or related issues. With one exception, I did not include aggregators that broadcast individual articles via Twitter or blog posts.

  • RFE/RL’s The Rundown – An essential read broadly on communication and today and tomorrow’s hotspots. I get it emailed but I didn’t see a way to subscribe through email.
  • NightWatch – is an “executive intelligence recap” edited and annotated by John McCreary.
  • John Brown’s Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review – a broad (sometimes too broad) coverage of media, academic, and “plain” blog posts on public diplomacy and related matters. Too often the cited headline is the only part of an article that refers to public diplomacy. John is, however, the major aggregator of public diplomacy-related content.
  • Public Diplomacy in the News – result set is focused and includes more non-US examples.
  • Kim Andrew Elliott – required if you’re monitoring global communication.
  • COMOPS Monitor – is an automated aggregator for the “latest links from the blogosphere on Strategic Communication, Terrorism, & Public Diplomacy.”
  • Layalina Review – a bi-weekly update of public diplomacy news as it primarily relates to the Middle East.

Feel free to add to this list.

Public Diplomacy Alumni Association Announces Top Achievers

~ Matt Armstrong

Public Diplomacy is too often misunderstood and more frequently ill-supported. Even within the State Department, stories abound of poor perceptions of the public diplomacy career track from other career tracks (unfortunately named “cones” in State). I particularly liked a recent anecdote where an Econ officer who took a public diplomacy job was disappointed to her he would have to actually work in his new assignment. His expectation of a free ride was the reason he chose a tour in the PD cone.

Stories like that make the recognition from the Public Diplomacy Alumni Association all the more important. Too often successful despite lack of resources and support, State Department public diplomacy officers do excel. Below is from the PDAA:

Continue reading “Public Diplomacy Alumni Association Announces Top Achievers
“ →

Still unarmed in the struggle for minds and wills

~ Matt Armstrong

Last month, The New York Times reported on the recruiting successes of Somali-based terrorist group Al Shabab. From Charges Detail Road to Terror for 20 in US by Andrea Elliott:

The case represents the largest group of American citizens suspected of joining an extremist movement affiliated with Al Qaeda, senior officials said. Many of the recruits had come to America as young refugees fleeing a brutal civil war, only to settle in a gang-ridden enclave of Minneapolis. …

The disclosures are the government’s first public account of a recruitment operation that it says has largely focused on Somali-American men from the Minneapolis area. Those young men included Shirwa Ahmed, 26, who carried out a suicide attack in northern Somalia in October 2008, becoming the first known American suicide bomber. Since then, at least five other recruits have been killed in Somalia, relatives and friends say, and four defendants have entered guilty pleas.

There is painfully little in the article about the information war and how the community gets their news from their homeland and home region.

See also:

  • Censoring the Voice of America

Global Information Environment

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 3 Comments

MountainRunner may not have a daily readership of thousands but it does reach a unique and critical audience. For every comment on the blog there are 3-5 offline (email) comments. This audience includes the media, such as Al Kamen and Spencer Ackerman, authors, such as Bing West (The Strongest Tribe and Tom Barnett (Great Powers), the Departments of State and Defense, and Congress (more citations are at the About page). This blog also has a global audience. The image below shows some of the visitors to the blog during November 2009.

MountainRunner reach Nov 2009

Here ends the self-promotion minute…

The Plan for Afghanistan

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 1 Comment

After years of neglect, Afghanistan is finally getting the attention it requires. But seven years after President George W. Bush gave a rosy outlook on Afghanistan before abandoning it for Iraq, the cost of both success and failure have risen tremendously as we have solidified a reputation that the Taliban and Al Qaeda propagandists invoke without much effort.

In a few hours, President Obama will announce his strategy for Afghanistan. Undoubtedly, the cacophony of responses will include recycled sound bites from the media, pundits, Congress and others who eager assert their own vision of the past (often selective and revisionist) and the future. But so much of the commentary to date has been shallow and ignorant of the struggle we are engaged in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere that it is not surprising that American public’s support for the mission in Southeast Asia is faltering. This decline is surely to the delight of Al Qaeda and the Taliban who understanding the struggle for minds to affect the will to act: it directs his operations while our failure to “get it” has greatly empowered him.

Continue reading “The Plan for Afghanistan
“ →

Public Diplomacy and New Technologies

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 2 Comments

Beginning January 15, 2010, I will be teaching “Public Diplomacy and New Technologies” (PUBD510) at the University of Southern California. The semester-long course will meet every Friday for 3hrs as part of the Masters of the Public Diplomacy program. This is a practical class intended to make the student an effective information actor and capable of explaining to senior policymakers the requirements of the modern information environment.

The focus will not exclusively be on the “new technologies”. In fact, I’d rather call the course “Public Diplomacy in the Now Media Environment”. There is no “old” or “new” media, simply Now Media. When speaking with the BBC or The New York Times, are your comments restricted to the broadcast or print editions of the respective outlets? Today’s news and information is simultaneously instant and persistent, global and local, and moves seamlessly across mediums: print, broadcast, cellular, and online.

The course will explore the foundations of public diplomacy, the legislation (of course), and the convergence of old and new media into Now Media. We will spend time on the opportunities and constraints on the US government as an information actor, adversarial use of the global information environment, including their use of YouTube, and other actors such as China, NATO, and hackers. We will look at the tools to identify and monitor the listening being created as well as citizen diplomacy in “non-traditional” issue areas. There will be several case studies, including one on the US healthcare debate, private sector risk management, Afghanistan and Pakistan (of course), and another case study of the students’ choosing. Several guest lecturers will contribute their expertise, either in person or teleconference.

I look forward to teaching at my alma mater.

Thanks, Al…

~ Matt Armstrong

If you’re new to www.MountainRunner.us via Al Kamen’s In the Loop, welcome and browse a while. By the way, Kamen was referring to this post Fresh Start for the Broadcasting Board of Governors when he cited me and this blog. As noted in the post, Michael Meehan, like some other BBG nominees, was previously nominated to the Board by President George W. Bush. The potential (and informal) link between the BBG and State Department’s public diplomacy office may ultimately benefit State’s public diplomacy bureaucracy and mission.

See also: