Pentagon Restricts Public Appearances By Senior U.S. Military Leaders And Senior Civilian Trump Administration Appointees

U.S. Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis speaks at the United States Institute of Peace, in a discussion moderated by the chair of the institute’s board of directors, Stephen J. Hadley, Washington, D.C., Oct. 30, 2018. DOD Photo by Lisa Ferdinando

Defense One: Pentagon Began Clampdown on Senior Leaders’ Public Speaking Months Ago, Memos Reveal

DOD says it’s to save money and time. Critics say it’s to avoid conflict with the president.

Pentagon leaders nine months ago ordered a sharp clampdown on public appearances by senior U.S. military leaders and senior civilian Trump administration appointees, limits that have kept them largely out of sight — and out of trouble with President Trump.

The new rule: only one senior military leader and one civilian leader are allowed to appear at each “outside” non-government event, per day. Leaders must coordinate their appearances through a central DOD personnel management office and must seek waivers to break the one-per-day rule.

The directive has changed how defense leaders participate in nearly every kind of public event, from global policy conferences to intimate academic panel discussions to on-camera press interviews.

Read more ....

Update: Pentagon limiting senior leader appearances at public events: report (The Hill)

WNU editor: For as long as I can remember, the Pentagon has always tried to control the message. This is nothing new, which is why it took 8 months before the media noticed these new rules.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis Has Told Senior Military Leaders To Start Talking To The Press

Defense One: Mattis to Generals: Start Talking to the Press

Nine months into the Trump administration, Mattis tells senior military leaders to engage with the media, but stay in their lanes.

It’s time to talk. In the age of Trump, senior U.S. military leaders have generally kept a lower public profile than usual, seeking to avoid the hyperactive state of politics and the press. That’s about to change.

On Friday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis instructed top commanders to speak to the media more freely, Defense One has learned.

The secretary is hoping to end a misperception among some senior leaders that they should keep quiet, in part because he wants them to speak up on the looming budget battle in Congress, according to a senior defense official.

Read more ....

Update: Jim Mattis encourages top military leaders to open up to the press (Washington Examiner)

WNU Editor: This is a welcome changed. When General McChrystal was fired after speaking to a Rolling Stone Reporter on what he thought about President Obama, the flow of information from U.S. Generals to the media stopped, a point that I made very clear in 2010 .... After The Firing Of General McChrystal, Generals Are Now Being Very Careful On What They Say (October 20, 2017). The public needs to know on what our generals think .... shutting this line of communications did no one any good, and the only ones who benefited were the politicians. Kudos to Secretary of Defense Mattis for making this announcement.

A Look At How The Pentagon Promotes Itself (Photo Gallery)

Parents and children run toward a V-22 Osprey, which takes off like a helicopter and flies like a plane, during Fleet Week in New Rochelle, New York, in 2015. Seven of the aircraft have been destroyed in crashes, and there have been 36 fatalities.

Jon Schwarz, The Intercept: GUNS AND HOTDOGS

How the U.S. Military Promotes Its Weapons Arsenal to the Public.

America’s wars take place far away — Kabul is 6,700 miles from New York or, travelling in the other direction, 7,400 miles from San Francisco. They also involve fewer and fewer Americans — the Army now has about 475,000 active duty soldiers, the lowest number since World War II.

This leaves the Pentagon free to promote itself to a country that largely has no idea what war actually entails. In addition to standard TV advertising and flyovers at the Super Bowl, the U.S. military spends tens of millions of dollars each year on live events that function half as recruitment pitches and half as visceral plugs for its spectacular high-tech weaponry.

Photojournalist Nina Berman has spent 10 years traveling to Fleet Weeks and air shows to document the peculiar collision between the Pentagon’s idealized self-image and the people who pay for it but have little comprehension of what they’re truly buying.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Every military in the world does this .... but I give credit where credit is due .... the Americans have a certain flare that no one can match.

U.S. Navy Accidentally Sends Out An Email Detailing How They Avoid 'Freedom Of Information' Requests

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Twitter/@MacFarlaneNews

Navy Reviews FOIA Office After Mistakenly Sent Email -- NBC Washington

U.S. Navy officials ordered an internal review of employees in its Freedom of Information Act office, and a navy official said the agency will also consider disciplinary actions because of the content of an email mistakenly sent to News4 I-Team reporter Scott MacFarlane.
In the email, a Navy FOIA officer details a strategy to reject and stymie the reporter’s request for emails, photos and memorandums related to the shooting incident at Navy Yard in southeast Washington in which 12 people were killed.

Read more ....

More News On How The U.S. Navy Accidentally Sends Out An Email That Details How They Avoid 'Freedom Of Information' Requests

U.S. Navy Mistakenly Emails Reporter Plans To Dodge FOIA Requests -- Huffington Post
Navy blunders in sending reporter details on how to avoid his FOIA request -- RT
This Leaked Memo Shows How The Government Strategizes To Keep Information From Reporters -- Business Insider
Navy accidentally sends reporter memo detailing plan to dodge FOIA request on Navy Yard shooting files -- al.com
Navy Accidentally Emails Reporter Its Plans to Deny His FOIA Request -- Gawker

U.S. Military Readers Are Looking For News Sources Since The Demise Of 'The Early Bird'

A copy of the Early Bird, a Pentagon newsletter. New York Times

With Demise Of Pentagon’s ‘Early Bird,’ Military Readers Hunt Bootleg Copies Of ‘Morning News’ -- Washington Times

The Defense Department has terminated its daily compilation of military-related news reports and opinion articles — called the “Early Bird” — in favor of a more restrictive press-clipping service for only the top brass.

The demise of the million-circulation “must read” for bureaucrats, politicians, industrialists and journalists has sparked complaints.

Hundreds of thousands of loyal readers have lost a concise morning view of what’s happening in national security. And they can’t subscribe to its successor, “Morning News,” which is provided only to the 300 most powerful leaders inside the Pentagon.

“People come up and say, ‘I’m not getting the “Morning News.” Can I?’ ” says Army Col. Steven Warren, director of Pentagon press operations. “And I make a determination. Essentially, the cut line is, ‘Are you a senior leader?’ “

Col. Warren, who made the “Early Bird” disappear, recites a list of reasons for why the Early Bird lost its edge in the Internet age.

Read more ....

My Comment: A good review on the demise of "The Early Bird" can be read here. As to limiting the Pentagon's newest news aggregator to only 300 readers .... I say why? As to what is my own take on "The Morning News" .... if anyone can email me a "bootleg copy", it would be appreciated.

Pentagon Closes Office Accused of Issuing Propaganda Under Bush

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — A Pentagon office responsible for coordinating Defense Department information campaigns overseas has been abolished in an effort by the Obama administration to distance itself from past practices that some military officers called propaganda, senior officials said Wednesday.

Military and civilian critics said the office, the Defense Department office for support to public diplomacy, overstepped its mandate during the final years of the Bush administration by trying to organize information operations that violated Pentagon guidelines for accuracy and transparency.

Pentagon officials said the position of deputy assistant secretary of defense for support to public diplomacy had been eliminated, with the staff members reassigned and the office closed.

Read more ....

My Comment: If you read between the lines, the biggest opponents to this (now former) Pentagon media office came from the State Department, the White House, and the Main Stream Media .... in short .... their competitors.

27,000 Work In Pentagon PR And Recruiting

From The Danger Room:

Forget the drone stuff. Here is your eye-popping statistic of the day: "This year, the Pentagon will employ 27,000 people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations — almost as many as the total 30,000-person work force in the State Department."

That's from an Associated Press investigation, "which found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year."

Read more ....

My Comment: Only $4.7 billion?