U.S. Strategic Communication: Getting It Right

Abstract

The United States is engaged in open conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places around the world in its effort to combat terrorist insurgents. Its hard power is unequaled. But its use of soft power in the everyday ideological battlefield of the mind is unimpressive, suffering from a lack of organization and unity of effort. Effective integration of words and action across the foreign policy spectrum is still lacking despite the release of the 2007 U.S. National Strategy for Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication. The U.S. Government is simply not organized to perform effective strategic communication. Attempts to direct this effort have been unproductive because of the absence of an overarching policy combined with an independent center with a director who answers directly to the President. Furthermore, the principal United States entity capable of influencing foreign audiences is preoccupied with maintaining its firewall and journalistic integrity as it broadcasts the news it chooses. This SRP elaborates on the issues of strategic communication and recommends ways to strengthen this component of national security.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 12, 2008
Accession Number
ADA480180

Entities

People

  • Kenneth R. Gerhart

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of State
  • Education
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • Information Operations
  • Intelligence Community (United States)
  • Interagency Coordination
  • International Organizations
  • National Security
  • Public Diplomacy
  • Recreation
  • Strategic Communications
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies