The Diplopundit blog first broke the story that Madam le Consul (the blogging penname of an unnamed Foreign Service officer who served in 23 different countries and wrote about consular issues) disappeared from the Internet.  According to Diplopundit, Madam le Consul had been blogging in The Consuls’ Files since May 2009, but she and the site simply disappeared on approximately Friday October 5, 2009.  Madam le Consul described her blog as a place, “Where U.S. consular officers can ask questions, answer questions, question answers, express frustrations, engage in debate, disagree, and tell their favorite consular stories, uncensored and anonymous.”

Both Danger Room and Diplopundit speculated that the State Department was responsible for the removal of the blog, with Diplopundit blaming Consular Affairs in particular.  Danger Room contacted the State Department media desk with an inquiry about the incident, but had little hope of receiving a response.  The Wired blog also noted that high-level State Department officials are allowed to maintain blogs and twitter pages, but apparently lower-level consular officers are not.

It is important that the State Department understand the benefits online social media tools provide.  The lack of transparency on this incident does not bode well.  It will be interesting to see to what degree changes in the State Department’s Web 2.0 policies mirror the DoD’s.

Lynn outlined the benefits and risks posed by the use of these sites by DoD personnel.  Some military officials have argued that the use of these social networking sites could (1) compromise classified information and operational security, (2) open the military’s networks up to viruses, trojans, and other malware, and/or (3) hog bandwidth, thus interfering with military communications.  However, Lynn’s draft policy concluded that the benefits provided by such sites outweigh the risks.  The memo would permit all DoD personnel and their families to use social networking sites on the DoD’s unclassified networks provided they follow the guidelines set forth.

Increasingly, the DOD has leveraged Web 2.0 for official purposes (examples ranging from MNF-I’s YouTube channel to DoD and other Facebook pages), but personal use of social networking sites has been subject to a series of confusing and contradictory policies.  Wired Magazine’s Danger Room blog explains that it was precisely this confusion that “prompted Defense Secretary Robert Gates to order the first Department-wide review of how the American military uses the sites.”

Somewhat ironically, Stars and Stripes noted that Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Price Floyd used Twitter to caution that, despite the memo, “no final decision has been made” on DoD Web 2.0 policy.

“The Taliban have unrestricted, unchallenged access to the radio, which is the main means of communication,” he added. “We can’t succeed, however you define success, if we cede the airways to people who present themselves as false messengers of a prophet, which is what they do. And we need to combat it.”

DoD and State are beginning to understand that we cannot talk or propagandize our way into the hearts and minds of the Afghans, so the thrust of this effort is on providing the infrastructure to allow the populace greater access to information. The plan includes building cell phone towers to expand the reach of the more than 9.5 million Afghans with mobile phones, security to protect those towers and expanding the number of FM radio stations.

The article’s author, Thom Shanker, rightly asserts that the benefits of expanding access to mobile services brings about more than just another channel in which to allow greater communication, but also as a means of increasing economic opportunity.

Expanding and securing cellphone service has the additional benefit of assisting economic development, officials said, as it could provide wireless access to banking systems for those who now must travel long distances for financial services.

The question, however, remains: What makes this new initiative any different than previous efforts to counter radical extremist messages in Afghanistan and Pakistan? Haven’t we already been hitting the airwaves, dropping leaflets and putting up billboards? US Strategic Communication efforts have been disjointed and mired in bureaucratic nonsense with DoD, State and the National Security Council all claiming some measure of jurisdiction over the themes and messages.

For this latest program to succeed there will not only have to be a high degree of coordination within the beltway, but devolution of responsibilities to the commanders and diplomats down range. This will ensure the effort achieves its intended effects and shows demonstrable progress toward protecting the country’s meager technology infrastructure and increasing economic opportunity for the Afghan populace.

Perhaps most importantly, this effort to proactively counter militant propaganda will demonstrate to the local populations that the US and its allies will no longer cede the information war to the Taliban. If we can turn that $150m into tangible outcomes and deliver real results for Afghans in the way of enhanced communication channels and alternative sources of news and information, we will have taken an important step in this conflict.

STRATSOC: How is your command using the social web today? Are there any notable successes to date?

CAPT Buclatin: Since last February, my Public Affairs team has leveraged a wide variety of off-the-shelf Social Media web sites and tools to conduct two-way conversations directly with our cyber audiences in Europe and back home in the U.S.  We’ve established presence on popular sites, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, established our own “EUCOMversations” blog, and utilized the robust multimedia capabilities of SmugMug to host our photos and videos.

We have two events that I consider noteworthy.  The first was our live coverage of the 65th Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy.  We created a very professional “homemade” Web site with archived photos, videos and stories.  We also harnessed the real-time power of Twitter to “tweet” stories from the ground as they unfolded on June 6th and coupled the hundreds of D-Day tweets with the live video broadcast from the Pentagon Channel on our Web site.  FYI, the D-Day 65th made the top Twitter Trending Topics list that day, an indicator to us that our activities didn’t go unnoticed.

The second significant event was our recent change of command when Adm. Stavridis took the helm of EUCOM as the first Navy officer to lead the headquarters.  His taking command is significant, because the Admiral is a pioneer in the use of Social Media at the four-star level (he manages his own Twitter and Facebook accounts) and upon taking command, established his own weekly “From the Bridge” blog.  The Admiral’s use of Social Media and our headquarters’ established presence and use of Web 2.0 is a perfect match—it doesn’t get any better than this!

STRATSOC: Do you have a social media strategy? If not, how do you decide what capabilities and concepts to employ on the social web?

CAPT Buclatin: When we rolled out our new www.EUCOM.mil public Web site and presence on various networking sites six month ago, I have to admit, we literally dove into Social Media head first without a strategy, but had a clear vision of connecting with our audiences and establishing two-way conversation with them on the Web.  Until recently, the members of our small Social Media think tank (consisting of a couple of Social Media natives, a Web developer, an IT person and myself) determined the best sites to engage and tools to employ.  It’s a bit of a band-aid approach to a Social Media strategy, but has worked well for us so far.  We are now developing a strategy which we hope to roll-out within the next several weeks.

STRATSOC: Have you experienced any challenges engaging in social media?

CAPT Buclatin: Yes.  I’d have to say that the biggest challenges we’ve faced are:  access to Social Media on government computer systems and establishing metrics to measure our effectiveness in this new medium.  Both issues continue to be a “work in progress” for us, as we try to continue to move our Social Media ball down the field.

STRATSOC: What could other commands learn from your use of social media?

CAPT Buclatin: Actually, the question should be, “What commands have we learned from?”  I must give credit to U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs who truly was the first combatant command to implement a wide array of Social Media tools, then under Adm. Stavridis’ leadership, and U.S. Air Force Public Affairs who was the first service to implement Social Media as a core competency.  Today, all of the major commands are learning from each other through collaboration, one of the key principles of Social Media.

STRATSOC: Are there any big plans or unique concepts you plan to employ in the future?

CAPT Buclatin: Yes and yes; however, I don’t know what they are yet.  We’ve institutionalized a culture of “disruptive innovation” where we will constantly innovate, experiment and implement our presence on the Web, as better processes and tools are introduced to the market place.  All I can say is that our use of Social Media will always be in a state of flux—we will always be on the move working to make improvements every day.

If anyone is interested in learning more about the EUCOM team, I urge you to check out their social media friendly Web site here at EUCOM.mil. CAPT Buclatin can be followed on Twitter  @US_EUCOM as can Adm. Stavridis (@stavridisj).

jeffbentley: reading: The Challenges of Perception Management in National Strategy and Military Operations [.pdf] http://tinyurl.com/d2gcvc

USAF Matteo Martemucci

The document “Regaining the High Ground: The Challenges of Perception Management in National Strategy and Military Operations” was written by Matteo G. Martemucci (Maj, USAF) while attending the Joint Forces Staff College in 2007. (Matteo is now Director of Operations at the 547th Intelligence Squadron)

The abstract of Maj Martemucci’s paper is below:

The informational element of power may be the most elusive for the U.S. Government to wield, but its importance is proportional to its difficulty. With the rise in global terrorist networks and a precipitous decline in world opinion of America’s foreign policy, Perception Management is more critical now than at any time in America’s history. This paper attempts to answer the question of why, in this time of conflict, it is so difficult for the U.S. Government to effectively leverage the informational element of power. It explores three friction-inducing elements that afflict the U.S. Government, including the military. The U.S. Government’s politics & personalities, bureaucracy, and aversion to the use of mass media, even in time of war, have precluded an integrated Perception Management campaign.
A historical review of Perception Management strategies since World War I reveals that this difficulty is based largely on individual personalities, an ever-growing bureaucracy, and an historical American concern about the perceived manipulation of the media by its government. To solve this problem, the President must clearly define lines of authority regarding the Government’s Perception Management strategy. He must also give that authority to a strong leader capable of coordinating the disparate efforts of numerous Government agencies. Finally, the U.S. Government must take a more proactive approach to media engagement as part of an integrated strategic Perception Management campaign.

Thinking about these three historical friction points made me wonder how social media will fare and how it will influence perception management.

Individual Personalities

Without revisiting the “personalities” in place during the writing of this paper in 2007, let’s instead look to the present and future. First, President Obama has handled himself skillfully in the strategic communication and social media front. Beyond the fact that his campaign leveraged the social web for an amazing victory, Obama’s interview with al-Arabiya Network in Dubai showed a policy of dialogue rather than dictation – certainly a format more appropriate for social media. Regardless of political inclination, we all have to agree that our nation’s highest leader has certainly set the tone for social media.

A group of Iraqi men watch Obama on TV

Under Secretary Clinton’s leadership the US State Department has engaged in innovative and effective social media campaigns reflecting a clear commitment to the power of social media. We can rightly expect that our nation’s Public Diplomacy efforts will continue to embrace social media.

Within the Department of Defense, key military leaders including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, General David Petraeus, and his adviser David Kilcullen have focused American military strategy towards counterinsurgency and favor the use of “soft power”. Across the military we see key military leaders stepping up to the plate and embracing the social web. In an earlier post we highlighted the “Leadership By Example” mentality of US Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen who has boldly spread the use of social media across his command. Similarly, Admiral Stavridis, commander of SOUTHCOM and his counter-part at AFRICOM, General Ward, have been using the internet to engage audiences. In fact, all across the military we are starting to see military commands embrace social media.

While “personalities” may have been a hindrance in past perception management policy and strategies, I expect the new administration as well as leaders within the Department of State and Department of Defense will usher in a new era of coordinated campaigns as well as a firm embrace of social media.

Bureaucracy

Yes, we got boatloads of bureaucracy and it’s not changing fast enough or soon enough. While I expect social media to revolutionize how we engage with foreign audiences, I expect bureaucratic challenges to be our biggest barrier. We will have to change our acquisition system, policies, operations, security procedures, manpower, training and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Politicians, agency heads and leaders across the government will have to make decisions, and we expect that will require years of staff work.

The Register has a great article about Andrew McLaughlin (Barack Obama Transition Team) and his attempt at “bringing Web 2.0 to Washington.” While Andrew’s experience is typical, the government is plodding along. The GSA recently signed deals with key social web companies such as Youtube, Flickr, Vimeo and Blip.tv. allowing them to use these services. But, look at the small print – it took nine months to put these agreements in place. Imagine how long an entire social media / social web strategy will take.

Deconstructing government bureaucracy in the near to mid term is unlikely, but there are movements working hard to change that reality. Government 2.0 Club is a great example and CNET was there to cover the ‘national organization created to allow government, academia, and industry to collaborate on Web 2.0 solutions for government.’ We attended along with hundreds of other Gov 2.0 idealists and had a chance to talk to foks such as Jack Holt who is leading social media change at the Defense Media Activity as well as Bill May of the US State Department who described State’s use of twitter, blogs, social networks, online video and other social media tactics.I also had a chance to talk with Laurel Ruma of O’Reilly Media and have great expectations for their Government 2.0 Summit in September of 2009.

The bottom line here is that bureaucracy is unlikely to change quickly, but it will change.

Social Media to the Frontlines

Perceived Manipulation of the Media by its Government

What a change two years can bring. When Major Martemucci wrote his original report I expect his frame of mind centered on the notion of mainstream media – namely how the US Government engaged and pushed its message to the leviathons of mass media. But in the two years since his paper was published, the media landscape has been upset by the emergence of social media. While broadcast news and papers aren’t dead, their influence has waned with the emergence of bloggers, citizen journalism, microblogging, and livestreaming. Now and into the future, these new sources of social media will increasingly frame perceptions of US policy and operations abroad.

Leaders and staff within the White House, US State Department and Department of Defense recognize this emerging trend and have increased their efforts to engage across the social web. While bureaucracy may slow the pace of change, new leaders and a new media landscape have set the stage for social media to play a leading role in perception management.