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The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 16, July 17-July 30, 2009

DoD Focuses on Greater Outreach

The Undersecretary of Defense for Policy at Pentagon, Michele Flournoy, is currently gathering a small team composed of about five existing policy shop employees, reports Defense News. The team is to be headed by Rosa Brooks, principal adviser to Flournoy and former Los Angeles Times columnist, to improve overall coordination of Department of Defense (DoD) public diplomacy and strategic communication efforts.

The team's purpose will also be to help the Obama Administration achieve greater outreach to key populations abroad, such as in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Flournoy disbanded the Support to Public Diplomacy office this year, seeking a fresh start to Strategic Communications efforts after the office became embroiled in an internal conflict over its issuances, according to the blog Mendstate.

While the idea seems like a step backward, the Mendstate remarks that it is a step towards better coordination of strategic communication initiatives. As the US tries to shape its global presence to positively affect and stabilize international audiences, it must also be cognizant of the delivery of its communication endeavors.

“The team will lead internal Pentagon coordination of public diplomacy and strategic communications efforts, and it will collaborate with similar offices across Washington's national security apparatus,” explained a source at Pentagon in an interview with Defense News.

Army Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington concurred, "This team will assist policy offices and senior leaders with the development of outreach and engagement plans, and will help coordinate DoD-wide engagement efforts."

However, some remain skeptical of the real impact this change will be able to inflict. Former Army commander Douglas Macgregor believes this is no more than American Hubris and will have very little effect.

Matt Armstrong disagrees with that stance, noting on his blog Mountain Runner, that McGregor is not focusing on the essential aspect of the intended results on the battleground. “This team is clearly intended to fill the gap, both statutory and operational, left by the abolishment of Support to Public Diplomacy,” he adds.

The public policy team's primary charge "will be heavy on coordination," Withington said for Defense News, calling its focus an "agglomeration of outreach and engagement efforts abroad and in Washington."

Undertaking this restructuring means that most functions, which were once carried out by the now-former Office of Support to Public Diplomacy, will be transferred to those regional directorates, each of which are headed by an assistant secretary of defense.

"DoD has a statutory obligation to support public diplomacy," Withington said, "and policy's regional offices now have primary responsibility for defense support to public diplomacy, in coordination with appropriate functional policy offices."

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