U.S. being 'out-communicated,' Clinton says

Thu, 05/21/2009 - 9:16am

Hillary Clinton, May 20, 2009 

Secretary Clinton testified yesterday (as seen above) in front of a Senate subcommittee that the United States is "being out-communicated by the Taliban and al Qaeda" and that it needs a "new strategic communication strategy" in order to "do a better job of getting the story of the values, ideals, the results of democracy out to people who are now being fed a steady diet of the [worst] kind of disinformation."

Al Qaeda's propagandists produce high-quality videos and elaborate Web sites, which has led U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to often say, "We're being out-communicated by a guy in a cave."

Clinton didn't provide details about what any "new strategic communication strategy" would involve, but whatever it is, let's hope it follows sound media ethics. In the past, the United States secretly paid Iraqi newspapers to run articles written by U.S. troops. In 2006, the Defense Department's inspector general discovered that the Lincoln Group, a private contractor, had paid Iraqi media outlets to run articles without attribution that were favorable to the U.S. military.

It's doubtful, though, that Clinton would support such tactics. According to a 2008 Washington Post article, when then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld learned about the Lincoln Group's "anonymous pay-to-publish program," he told reporters, "Gee, that's not what we ought to be doing."

Clinton, the e-diplomat, has hinted a bit at what her communications strategy would involve. Tuesday, she mentioned reaching out directly to displaced Pakistanis on their cellphones.

In all fairness, FP -- the print edition -- runs multipage ads from various countries, which are clearly marked as "Special Advertising Supplement." The May/June issue has supplements from the Dominican Republic, Angola, and Cabinda (an Angolan province).

And speaking of Angola, Clinton has that country on her schedule today:

11:00 a.m. Bilateral with His Excellency Ansuncao Afonso dos Anjos, Minister of External Relations of the Republic of Angola.

11:45 a.m. Meeting with Joint Summit Working Group.

2:00 p.m. Bilateral with His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania.

4:15 p.m. Attend The President's bilateral with Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of the United Republic of Tanzania.

Photo: TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images

Preeti Aroon | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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The New "Great Communicator"

by Still4Hill on Thu, 05/21/2009 - 12:01pm

I think Hillary is the new Great Communicator, and, as such, expresses an important concern here. For her, as Secretary of State, a priority is to get our message across to people in various parts of the globe and regions of concern and risk. That we need to access all the tools available to us in order to further diplomatic agendas rather than military ones is vital to the success of her smart diplomacy.

For the person we have all seen as a straight-talker with messages of substance to express such a concern comes as no surprise. Hillary has stuff to say. Let's give her the tools (and apps) she needs. Clearly, Hillary loves apps. Let her have them so she can do her job at the highest level of efficiency. She's gifted. Give her the tools, take off the leashes, and let's watch her go!

Edited to add: Awesome picture, that one. Love the color with her eyes. (I know - completely shallow, but if you're gonna HAVE an SoS like this one, you have to appreciate EVERYTHING).

Hillary Clinton’s flip-flops

by simplesimon on Fri, 05/22/2009 - 7:39am

Hillary Clinton’s flip-flops are also becoming legendary. One day she said ‘Pakistani government was abdicating to Taliban’ and next she said ‘US has not been supporting Pakistan for last thirty years’! One day Obama declared that Pakistani nuclear weapons are of great concern to India and US and next day Hillary forgets that her husband had stopped supporting Pakistan because of Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation!
One has to wonder if she was being an astute diplomat when she acknowledged immense power that China has acquired over US economy and governmental finances when she begged China to continue investing in US treasuries during her first visit. Did she even realize that her statement after treasury secretary Geithner’s admonition to China to stop manipulating its currency rate was a flip-flop for Obama administration?

Listen to Slaughter...

by Aparicio on Fri, 05/22/2009 - 9:38am

I can see why Clinton chose Slaughter as advisor. She knows that the future of diplomacy is networking, communicatiions throught descentralized channels. Great. I really think the State Dep has not fully used the power of Internent and networks. They should offer mini documentaries, often critical with itselves (because mere propaganda does not sell that easy today). The shuld offer good interactive features in the net, for students, professors, whith charts, videos and else. Good model to follow is Flypmedia format.