The counterinsurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq are revolutionizing the way the U.S. military wages information warfare. Public affairs officers are now war fighters by another name, responsible for shaping the battlefield by countering enemy propaganda and anticipating public opinion. But even as the struggle for hearts and minds has become as important as any piece of territory, military operations are themselves increasingly covert, small-scale, and inaccessible to journalists, making it easy for facts or images to be distorted to America's strategic disadvantage.
How is the U.S. military waging information-operations campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq? To what extent can and should the U.S. military develop battlefield doctrine for influencing public opinion? In what ways can the U.S. military work together with war correspondents to ensure more accurate reporting in a counterinsurgency environment?
These and other questions will be the subject of an AEI panel discussion. Participants include Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, spokesman of coalition forces during the invasion of Iraq and deputy chief of public affairs for the U.S. Army, and Robert D. Kaplan, bestselling author and correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly. Thomas Donnelly, AEI resident fellow in defense and security policy, will moderate.
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Sunday, November 22, 2009
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