[Infowarrior] - Rummy Resurfaces, Calls for U.S. Propaganda Agency

[Richard Forno]

Rummy Resurfaces, Calls for U.S. Propaganda Agency
By Sharon Weinberger EmailJanuary 23, 2008 | 4:11:26 PMCategories: Info War,
Strategery  

Rumsfeld One of the many things I love about Donald Rumsfeld is that he's
totally unrepentant. Back in 2001, the Pentagon under his leadership created
the controversial Office of Strategic Influence, which was closed down just
a few months later after its existence became public. Rightly or wrongly,
the Pentagon was accused of creating a propaganda office. Now, the former
defense secretary has a bigger vision: he is advocating a "21st century
agency for global communications."

This was one of the major themes in one of Rumsfeld's first post-Pentagon
public comments at a conference today on network centric warfare sponsored
by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement. According to
Rumsfeld, the United States is losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world,
and the answer to that, in part, is through the creation of this new
government agency.

During the the Q&A after the speech, I asked Rumsfeld what this new agency
might entail (he was pretty clear it wouldn't be a resurrected U.S.
Information Agency, which was merged into State Department in 1999), and
why, when there is an abundance of media available in the private sector,
the government needs to get involved.

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http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/rummy-wants-pro.html