On Thursday, May 31 at 3:00 PM, Dr. Juliana Pilon will participate in a panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation on the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, which established public diplomacy and international broadcasting as activities of the US government.
Hon. Joseph Duffey, former Director of the United States Information Agency, will also speak.
The House Armed Services Committee clearly acted in the U.S. interest when it voted to modernize the Smith–Mundt Act last week, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Since 1948, Smith–Mundt has prohibited agencies of the U.S. government from informing the U.S. public in print or on the airwaves about their activities. In the age of the information revolution and the global war of ideas, these prohibitions have become obsolete and worse. As noted by Juliana Pilon in the Heritage paper “Obsolete Restrictions on Public Diplomacy Hurt U.S. Outreach and Strategy”:
In the war on terrorism, this restriction is worse than an anachronism: It amounts to self-sabotage. Until Congress relegates this piece of legislation to the dustbin of history, the U.S. cannot expect to conduct public diplomacy effectively.
To read the rest of this post by Helle Dale, please click here.
Of note: GAO auditing Pentagon propaganda campaigns
WASHINGTON – The top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have called for a federal audit of the Pentagon’s “military information support operations” in light of concerns about their growing cost and questionable merit, according to their offices and documents obtained by USA TODAY.
The Salzburg Global Seminar on Cultural-Exchange Based Diplomacy took place on April 28-May 2, 2012. John Brown, Princeton PhD and longtime US diplomat, attended the conference, and has shared his notes from the conference on his blog.
CNN is re-reporting a story from Die Zeit about a treasure-trove of al-Qaeda documents and manuals found encrypted in pornographic videos. The encryption was done using a technique call steganography.
The videos were found in the possession of Maqsood Lodin, a 22 year old Austrian and suspected al-Qaeda member. He was detained by authorities in Berlin as be returned from a trip to Pakistan. The documents discussed plans to attack cruise ships as a distraction while Mumbai-style attacks were initiated in Europe. Training manuals were also found.
Please click here for the full post on the website of the COMOPS Journal.
Of Note: Information Operations Newsletter
Jeff Hartley has compiled the most recent Information Operations Newsletter of the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command: Information Operations Newsletter April 2012
Of note: Electronic Warfare Weekly Media Reports
The HQ Department of the Army Electronic Warfare Office releases Electronic Warfare Weekly Media Reports.
Please click here for the latest report: Electronic Warfare Weekly Media Report 21-27 April 12
Please click here for more weekly reports.
Please click here for the facebook page of the HQ Department of the Army Electronic Warfare Office.
