Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication

Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication

Author:

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 111

ISBN-13: 1428980253

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The Defense Science Board Summer Study on the Transition to and from Hostilities was formed in early 2004 (the terms of reference are contained in Appendix A) and culminated in the production of a final report and summary briefing in August of 2004. The DSB Task Force on Strategic Communication conducted its deliberations within the overall Summer Study schedule and revisited a topic that was addressed in October 2001.1 Task Force members and Government advisors are identified in Appendix B. The current Strategic Communication Task Force re-examined the purposes of strategic communication and the salience of recommendations in the earlier study. It then considered the following questions: (1) What are the consequences of changes in the strategic communication environment? (2) What Presidential direction and strategic communication means are required? (3) What should be done about public diplomacy and open military information operations? The Task Force met with representatives from the National Security Council (NSC), White House Office of Global Communications, Department of State (DOS), Department of Defense (DOD), Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), and the private sector (the schedule of meetings, briefings and discussions is contained in Appendix C). Based on extensive interaction with a broad range of sectors in the government, commercial, and academic worlds, as well as a series of highly interactive internal debates, we have reached the following conclusions and recommendations.


Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Managed Information Dissemination

Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Managed Information Dissemination

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13:

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The Task Force on Managed Information Dissemination was charged with determining the need for and feasibility of a coordinated U.S. Information dissemination capability. The Task Force determined that U.S. civilian and military information dissemination capabilities are powerful assets vital to national security. They can create diplomatic opportunities, lessen tensions that might lead to war, help contain conflicts, and address nontraditional threats to America's interests. In the information age, no diplomatic or military strategy can succeed without them. Yet America's political and military leaders too often appreciate their value only during a crisis or in retrospect when hostilities are concluded.


Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Discriminate Use of Force

Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Discriminate Use of Force

Author:

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 38

ISBN-13: 1428980369

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In the terms of reference, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics directed the task force "to conduct a comprehensive study of the ends and means of precision compellence, or the nuanced use of force, in concert with coalition partners, to achieve political, economic and moral change in countries affecting US interests." Real-world events have since underscored the need for such a study; indeed, the U.S. military applied key elements of a measured, nuanced approach in both the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns. We are pleased to note this evolution in operations and a parallel evolution in the thinking of the combatant commands and Services. Because of this evolution, it is no longer as necessary as it once was to sell the fundamental objectives of what we term here the discriminate use of force (DUF). The notion of using military force in discriminate fashion goes back at least to the teachings of Sun Tzu. In the past, however, the military tools available to political and military leaders rarely supported such an approach. As recent events have shown, this situation is changing. New precision and non-lethal weapons and emerging capabilities such as information dominance now enable the discriminate use of force. These emerging capabilities exist within a political context that requires the use of discriminate force. Moreover, destructive power alone is not sufficient to reach many U.S. goals, and it must be properly applied. Efficiency is one motivation. More significant is the need for discriminate use, particularly when multiple strategic and operational objectives are in tension.


Spies, Lies and the War on Terror

Spies, Lies and the War on Terror

Author: Paul Todd

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2013-07-04

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1848137826

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The advent of the War on Terror has seen intelligence agencies emerge out of the shadows to become major political players. 'Rendition', untrammelled surveillance, torture and detention without trial are now fast becoming the norm. Spies, Lies and the War on Terror traces the transformation of intelligence from a tool for law enforcement to a means of avoiding the law - both national and international. The new culture of victimhood in the US and among partners in the 'coalition of the willing' has crushed domestic liberties and formed a global network of extra-legal licence. State and corporate interests are increasingly fused in the new business of privatising fear. Todd & Bloch argue that the bureaucracy and narrow political goals surrounding intelligence actually have the potential to increase the terrorist threat. This lively and shocking account is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the new power of intelligence.


American Diplomacy’s Public Dimension

American Diplomacy’s Public Dimension

Author: Bruce Gregory

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2024-01-27

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 3031389174

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This is the first book to frame U.S. public diplomacy in the broad sweep of American diplomatic practice from the early colonial period to the present. It tells the story of how change agents in practitioner communities – foreign service officers, cultural diplomats, broadcasters, citizens, soldiers, covert operatives, democratizers, and presidential aides – revolutionized traditional government-to-government diplomacy and moved diplomacy with the public into the mainstream. This deeply researched study bridges practice and multi-disciplinary scholarship. It challenges the common narrative that U.S. public diplomacy is a Cold War creation that was folded into the State Department in 1999 and briefly found new life after 9/11. It documents historical turning points, analyzes evolving patterns of practice, and examines societal drivers of an American way of diplomacy: a preference for hard power over soft power, episodic commitment to public diplomacy correlated with war and ambition, an information-dominant communication style, and American exceptionalism. It is an account of American diplomacy’s public dimension, the people who shaped it, and the socialization and digitalization that today extends diplomacy well beyond the confines of embassies and foreign ministries.


American Encounters with Arabs

American Encounters with Arabs

Author: William A. Rugh

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2005-11-30

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0313055246

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For sixty years, U.S. government officials have conducted public diplomacy programs to try to reach Arab public opinion—to inform, educate, and understand Arab attitudes. American public affairs officers have met serious challenges in the past, but Arab public criticism of the United States has reached unprecedented levels since September 11, 2001. Polls show that much of the negative opinion of the United States, especially in the Middle East, can be traced to dissatisfaction with U.S. foreign policy. Rugh, a retired career Foreign Service officer who twice served as ambassador to countries in the region, explains how U.S. government officials have dealt with key problem issues over the years, and he recommends ways that public diplomacy can better support and enhance U.S. national interests in the Middle East. This struggle for the hearts and minds of the Arab world, so crucial to the success of American efforts in post-occupation Iraq, is carried out through broadcasting, cultural contacts, and educational and professional exchanges. Rugh describes the difference between public diplomacy and propaganda. He points out that public diplomacy uses open means of communication and is truthful. Its four main components are explaining U.S. foreign policy to foreign publics; presenting them with a fair and balanced picture of American society, culture, and institutions; promoting mutual understanding; and advising U.S. policy makers on foreign attitudes. Public diplomacy supports the traditional diplomatic functions of official business between governments. Whereas diplomats from the United States deal with diplomats of foreign governments, public affairs officers deal with opinion leaders such as media editors, reporters, academics, student leaders, and prominent intellectuals and cultural personalities. Rugh provides an up-close-and-personal look at how public affairs officers do their jobs, how they used innovation in their efforts to meet the challenges of the past, and how they continue to do so in the post-September 11 era.