Analysis: Pentagon Talks Openness, But Shows Little Action

A PENTAGON CAMPAIGN Retired officers have been used to shape terrorism coverage from inside the TV and radio networks. Photo from The New York Times.

From Stars And Stripes:

WASHINGTON — Media critics for years have blasted the military for its heavy-handed efforts to control the flow of information coming out of the Pentagon. And now the Joint Chiefs Chairman has agreed with them.

“There has been a certain arrogance in our ‘strat comm’ efforts,” Adm. Mike Mullen wrote in a recent essay in the Pentagon’s Joint Force Quarterly magazine. “We need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate.

“What we need more than anything is credibility,” Mullen added. “And we can’t get that in a talking point.”

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My Comment: The culture and nature of the military is .... like the government's .... to control information. For government's, information is (generally speaking) controlled for political reasons. For the military .... the reason most often cited is security.

Both institutions (though) have the same objective .... to paint their agencies in a positive light.

In all of my years I have lost count on how many politicians and generals have gone up to the podium to say that they are different .... but they are not. I expect this newest batch to be no different.