Warier Warriors

[buglerbilly]

By Jamie McIntyre Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 3:18 pm

Posted in On Media

You might as well call it “The Anonymous Sources Full Employment Policy”.

As predicted the other combat boot has dropped as the Defense Secretary Gates has issued new rules of engagement with the news media, according to my colleague Thom Shanker reporting this morning in The New York Times.

[“Gates Tightens Rules for Military and the Media,” New York Times, July 2, 2010]



The Pentagon says it’s not related to the Rolling Stone article that brought down Gen. McChrystal. Nevertheless it requires all on the record interviews to be cleared by the Pentagon. Which means if reporters want get any quotes or insights that go beyond the official Pentagon-sanctioned message, they will have to talk to anonymous sources on background, or heaven forbid, off the record.

It was Gates who famously declared, “the press is not the enemy” shortly six months after he took over back in 2007.


“The same is true with the press, in my view a critically important guarantor of our freedom. When it identifies a problem, as at Walter Reed, the response of senior leaders should be to find out if the allegations are true – as they were at Walter Reed – and if so, say so, and then act to remedy the problem. If untrue, then be able to document that fact. The press is not the enemy, and to treat it as such is self-defeating.“

– Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense, Annapolis, Maryland, May 25, 2007

The now infamous Rolling Stone article so clearly shows, treating the press as your friend can be self-defeating, too. Or at least career-limiting.

By the way: There is a lot of grumbling among career military PAOs [Public Affairs Officers] that this massive screw-up with McChrystal was a the fault of a politically-appointed civilian who was “too clever by half” in pursuing the trendy goal of “strategic communications.” No one quite knows what “strategic communications” is, but the general idea is to do a better job winning people over to your way of thinking, and so the idea of getting a story in Rolling Stone was perhaps aimed at reaching a different audience, which up to now has not been all that supportive of the war effort. Not only did the effort backfire in spectacular fashion, it has also helped to discredit the whole notion of “strategic communications,” which many see as a gussied-up euphemism for plain old media manipulation and propaganda.

There will be a lot of handwringing inside and outside media circles about how all this is going to make the missions of both the military and the media more difficult. But the truth is it will change very little. Commanders will be more wary. There will be a short term cutback on embed opportunities with senior officers, but in the end experienced reporters with a track record of integrity and independence, will use their hard-earned trust to get the access they need. That’s never easy.

Meanwhile the whole episode serves as reminder to both sides of the military/media divide just where their loyalties should lie.

One footnote:

Traveling with Secretary Gates to Singapore shortly after his 2007 speech, I made up a bunch of buttons with his “not the enemy” quote, and passed them out to the traveling press, as a joke to gently chide the secretary to live by his words.

I wore one on my lapel to one of those off the record after-hours social events that have now come under renewed scrutiny.

(You can see it in this picture I have posted here, if you click on it to see the image full size.)



It was a typical off the record affair, just a chance for the traveling party to mix share some lighthearted banter, and yes there was drinking going on. I can’t tell you what was in the secretary’s glass but I think it was club soda. As you can see I was drinking what appears to be lemonade in a wine glass. What did we discuss that night? In all honesty I have no idea. I didn’t take notes, and I don’t remember. But I can assure you no one was dissing the President. And there were no hijinks that the press corps was covering up.

Read more: http://www.lineofdeparture.com/2010/07/03/warier-warriors/#ixzz0ssSG5Gri

[buglerbilly]

This is the New York Times article mentioned above............

Gates Tightens Rules for Military and the Media

By THOM SHANKER

Published: July 2, 2010

WASHINGTON — Nine days after a four-star general was relieved of command for comments made to Rolling Stone magazine, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates issued orders on Friday tightening the reins on officials dealing with the news media.

The memorandum requires top-level Pentagon and military leaders to notify the office of the Defense Department’s assistant secretary for public affairs “prior to interviews or any other means of media and public engagement with possible national or international implications.”

Just as the removal of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal from command in Afghanistan was viewed as President Obama’s reassertion of civilian control of the military, so Mr. Gates’s memo on “Interaction With the Media” was viewed as a reassertion by civilian public affairs specialists of control over the military’s contacts with the news media.

Senior officials involved in preparing the three-page memo said work on it had begun well before the uproar that followed Rolling Stone’s profile of General McChrystal. But they acknowledged that the controversy, and the firing of one of the military’s most influential commanders, served to emphasize Mr. Gates’s determination to add more discipline to the Defense Department’s interactions with the media.

“I have said many times that we must strive to be as open, accessible and transparent as possible,” Mr. Gates wrote in the memo, which was sent to senior Pentagon civilian officials, the nation’s top military officer, each of the armed-services secretaries and the commanders of the regional war-fighting headquarters. “At the same time, I am concerned that the department has grown lax in how we engage with the media, often in contravention of established rules and procedures.”

The memo by Mr. Gates, a former C.I.A. director, also demanded greater adherence to secrecy standards, issuing a stern warning against the release of classified information: “Leaking of classified information is against the law, cannot be tolerated and will, when proven, lead to the prosecution of those found to be engaged in such activity.”

A copy of the unclassified memo by Mr. Gates was provided to The New York Times by an official who was not authorized to release it. Douglas B. Wilson, the new assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, and Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, verified its content.

Mr. Gates’s memo “is based primarily on his view that we owe the media and we owe ourselves engagement by those who have full knowledge of the situations at hand,” Mr. Wilson said.

Mr. Gates was particularly concerned that civilian and military officials speaking to reporters sometimes had only a parochial view of a national security issue under discussion. The new orders, Mr. Wilson said, were devised to “make sure that anybody and everybody who does engage has as full a picture as possible and the most complete information possible.”

The repercussions of the Rolling Stone profile have included heightened concerns that military officers will become warier of the press — and it is expected that many officers will read the new memo as an official warning to restrict access to reporters.

Mr. Wilson and Mr. Morrell rejected those assumptions, saying Mr. Gates would remain committed to having the Pentagon work closely with reporters.

“From the moment he came into the building, this secretary has said that to treat the press as an enemy is self-defeating,” Mr. Morrell said. “That attitude has been reflected in his tenure: he has been incredibly accommodating, incredibly forthright and incredibly cooperative with the news media. That said, he thinks we as a giant institution have become too undisciplined in how we approach our communications with the press corps.”

But correspondents who cover national security issues, a realm that routinely requires delving into the classified world, have come to rely on unofficial access to senior leaders for guidance and context — and for information when policies or missions may be going awry.

Officials involved in drafting Mr. Gates’s memo cited several recent developments as central to his thinking. They included disclosure of the internal debate during the administration’s effort to develop a new policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, similar public exposure of internal deliberations over the Pentagon budget and weapons procurement, and, among others, an article in The Times describing a memorandum on Iran policy written by Mr. Gates and sent to a small circle of national security aides.

On behalf of the military, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was consulted during the drafting of the memo on media relations and “fully supports the secretary’s intent,” said Capt. John Kirby, the chairman’s spokesman.

He cited Admiral Mullen’s visit to Kabul, Afghanistan, last weekend, in which the admiral told American military officers and embassy personnel that “we must continue to tell our story — we just need to do it smartly, and in a coordinated fashion.”

Mr. Gates’s memo also orders senior civilian and military leaders to coordinate their release of official Defense Department information that may have national or international implications, and to ensure that their staff members have the experience and perspective “to responsibly fulfill the obligations of coordinating media engagements.”

The memo is expected to reanimate the professional public-affairs cadre among the Pentagon’s civilian and military staffs, who have made no secret that they have felt challenged by the growing numbers of contractors hired for “strategic communications” issues. It was one such contractor who brokered Rolling Stone’s profile of General McChrystal.

A version of this article appeared in print on July 3, 2010, on page A7 of the New York edition.

[buglerbilly]

Gates Issues Memo to Leaders on Media Engagement

(Source: US Department of Defense; issued July 6, 2010)

WASHINGTON --- In a memo to senior civilian and military leaders, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates reiterated the need for leaders to take media engagement seriously, and to stay within their levels of knowledge.

The memo, issued the afternoon of July 2, was the culmination of weeks of discussion within the Pentagon on leader interaction with the media.

In the memo, the secretary said he is concerned that the department has grown lax in following long-established rules and procedures for engagement with the media.

“We have far too many people talking to the media outside of channels, sometimes providing information which is simply incorrect, out of proper context, unauthorized or uninformed by the perspective of those who are most knowledgeable about and accountable for inter- and intra-agency policy, processes and activities,” Gates wrote in the memo.

Gates wants to ensure that leaders safeguard classified and sensitive information, said Pentagon spokesman Marine Col. David Lapan. Leaking classified information is against the law, Gates said. But his memo stresses that leaders also must be careful with unclassified information. “Revealing unclassified, but sensitive, pre-decisional, or otherwise restricted information is also prohibited unless specifically authorized,” Gates says in the memo.

The secretary also wants to ensure that leaders speaking to the media know what they are talking about before they open their mouths. “The other element of it is those who are talking to the media are doing so with full knowledge of that which they speak,” Lapan said. Those speaking with the media should stay in their lanes, and not opine on areas totally outside their areas of expertise, Lapan added.

The memo also seeks to ensure that all major media engagements are properly coordinated, “so everyone is aware – up and down the chain of command – that these things are happening,” Lapan said.

The Gates memo gives his broad intent to civilian and military leaders. Experts in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs will issue specific implementation guidance in the near future, Lapan said.

The memo and resulting implementation guidance are not in response to the “Runaway General” story in Rolling Stone magazine, Lapan said. Following the appearance of that article, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal resigned as the commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

The memo is not intended to squelch any interaction with the media, and should have no effect on the day-to-day activities of reporters, the colonel said. If there is an incident in Afghanistan, for example, reporters still will be able to get the who, what, where, when, why or how facts from the commands, he said. Likewise, base commanders will not have to get prior authorization to speak with reporters about local incidents, policies or happenings.

But prior to granting requests for interviews or other media engagements with possible national or international implications, officials need to notify Defense Department public affairs officials of the event.

“This office can certainly advise commanders and others that planned engagements either may not be in the best interests or have the best timing,” Lapan said. Department officials want to ensure that those speaking have the latest information and understand the most current policy, he added.

Defense public affairs officials can recommend against a commander engaging with media on a subject, but cannot forbid it. Commanders own the public affairs program for their units or areas of responsibility, Lapan noted, and commanders can choose to ignore Defense Department advice.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Two Gitmo Journos Un-Banned; Pentagon’s Love-Hate Affair With the Press Continues [Updated]

By Spencer Ackerman July 9, 2010 | 12:57 pm

Does the Pentagon hate us reporters? Of course not. It love-hates us.

About a week ago, a memo leaked from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, telling his Pentagon officials to tighten up their relations with journalists. Judging from his press conference yesterday, even if Gates’ new rules effectively allow his communications people to veto major interviews with senior department officials, he doesn’t want the media to think Defense Department is under some post-McChrystal lockdown. Case in point: Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald is flying back out to Guantanamo Bay on Sunday after the Pentagon abruptly reversed its decision to ban her from reporting from the detention facility. But she and another colleague are the only reporters banned from Gitmo, so far, who’ve been unbanned, meaning there are still two others who can’t return.

On the late afternoon of May 6, while a group of 15 reporters (including me) filed their dispatches on pre-trial proceedings in the military commission of detainee Omar Khadr, we learned that four journos were now thrown off the island. Our colleagues’ offense: to report the name of a former Khadr interrogator, Specialist Joshua Claus, who testified anonymously, even though that witness had already publicly identified himself in an on-the-record interview — and even though the judge on the case never ruled that any reporter violated the protective order he imposed on the witness. Along with Rosenberg, the Toronto Star’s Michelle Shephard, the Globe & Mail’s Paul Koring and Canwest’s Steven Edwards were also banned. (Full disclosure: I like all of those dudes.)

After two months of appeals to the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Public Affairs shop in which the news orgs said their reporters did nothing wrong, a meeting yesterday got Rosenberg reinstated. McClatchy, the Herald’s parent company, reports that the Pentagon Press Association met with Assistant Secretary of Defense Douglas Wilson and press-office chief Colonel Dave Lapan to complain about the reporting restrictions posed by the military commissions’ ground rules. (You’re always in the presence of media handlers at Guantanamo, who even tell you which showers you can use.) In addition to that meeting, Rosenberg attorney Dave Schulz parleyed Wednesday with Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s top lawyer. The upshot: yesterday, one of Wilson’s deputies who attended the meeting with the news organizations, Bryan Whitman, e-mailed McClatchy’s attorney to say Rosenberg had agreed to the ground rules and can come back to the island for the conclusion of Khadr’s pre-trial hearing on Monday.

“I think this is a good first step,” Rosenberg tells Danger Room. “But our lawyers and news groups are still engaging the Pentagon on its recent, expansive interpretation of military censorship powers at Guantanamo. Never before did they say we can’t report stuff that’s already public. Even the CIA didn’t try to blacklist journalists who reported that Bob Novak outed Valerie Plame.” #Shotsfired!

It’s unclear exactly why the Pentagon changed its mind about Rosenberg. She says she reiterated her respect for the ground rules to the Defense Department press shop, but she never conceded violating them in the first place. Still, that might have been enough for the Pentagon. In a June 15 letter, Rosenberg wrote Whitman, “until such time as it is modified, revoked or invalidated, I will fully abide by the media policy.” But nearly a month passed between Rosenberg’s letter and her reinstatement. Still, her letter basically meant that she won’t be reporting Claus’ name until the policy changes — and McClatchy and other news organizations are still pushing the Defense Department for precisely such changes.

Mark Seibel, the managing editor of McClatchy’s Washington bureau, told Danger Room he intends to continue a “concerted effort” by several news organizations to make the ground rules more sensible; to make commission judges the arbiters of when the rules are violated; and for “effective due process” so reporters can address disputes as they occur. In short, McClatchy and its partner organizations want to ensure that the Guantanamo rules “are in place for actual reasons of national security and not simply to hamper reporters’ ability to do their jobs,” as Seibel put it.

McClatchy has argued to Johnson that banning reporters from noting public information is illegal “prior restraint” and violates the First Amendment. As for Rosenberg’s substantive reporting, Seibel says, ”From Carol’s perspective, since McClatchy believes she never violated any ground rules and that the Pentagon’s interpretation of those ground rules is illegal, I don’t think much will change.”

But just because Rosenberg is heading back to Guantanamo doesn’t mean her Canadian counterparts are. The Canadian news organizations opted not to participate in the forum that McClatchy and others used with Wilson and Lapan. “At this point,” Shephard IMs, “my status is unknown and I’m just waiting for word back.” E-mails and phone messages left with Edwards and Koring have not yet been returned. [Update, 1:45 p.m.: Edwards, currently on vacation, got in touch to say that the Pentagon has un-banned him as well. He plans to return to Guantanamo on August 5 to resume covering Khadr's military commission.]

It’s possible that the Pentagon press shop just wanted a face-saving way out of the Guantanamo reporter ban. If so, that’s in line with the message Gates issued in his presser yesterday. “The purpose here is to be as responsive to you as we have always been, but for us to do a better job of preparing people before they have interviews,” Gates said. His memo, issued after Stanley McChrystal imploded in a Rolling Stone profile, instructs senior Pentagon and military leaders to clear “interviews or any other means of media and public engagement with possible national or international implications” with Wilson’s shop ahead of time. It’s not difficult to see that having a chilling effect, either from officers who figure a reporter’s inquiry isn’t worth the hassle, or from public affairs figuring discretion — that is, denying interview requests — is the better part of valor.

Since taking over for Donald Rumsfeld in 2007, Gates has repeatedly said that the media is “not the enemy” — reversing his predecessor’s perspective — something that appears undercut by the secretary’s post-McChrystal memo.But Gates contended that he’s just trying to stop his people from talking out of their lane. “If you’re a captain in a unit that has an embedded reporter, as long as you’re within the guidelines and the rules, we expect you to be open with that embedded reporter,” he said, emphasizing that “the kind of reporting you do, as far as I’m concerned, is one of the tools that I have in trying to lead this department and correct problems.”

It’s doubtful that Rosenberg’s reinstatement is a consequence of the unrelated Gates media memo. But no one — in uniform or in the media — knows more about Guantanamo than Carol Rosenberg, the most consistent beat reporter covering the detention facility since its 2002 inception. She’s been to Guantanamo about 100 times, including an epic 41-day stay in 2008 during marathon commissions hearings, while most tours of duty at Gitmo for officers and enlisted men last a single year and most reporters do a handful of trips at most. If Gates is looking to learn from reporters about problems at Guantanamo Bay, Rosenberg’s is the first byline to run through Nexis.

On the other hand, no one knows more about Omar Khadr than Michelle Shephard, who literally wrote the book on Khadr. And right now, she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to return to Guantanamo to cover his imminent military commission.

Update, 5:56 p.m.: Shephard says in an email that the Defense Department has informed her she will not be attending Sunday’s trip back to Guantanamo for the end of Omar Khadr’s pre-trial hearing. She hopes to be reinstated by August, when his military commission is scheduled to begin in earnest.

Video Credit: NBC News’s Shawna Thomas (see the link below for the video)

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/gitmo-journo-un-banned-pentagons-love-hate-affair-with-the-press-continues/#more-27315#ixzz0tE5bRwcP