Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication

An interesting report with links to a number of Public Diplomacy studies:


This report is a product of the Defense Science Board (DSB). The DSB is a Federal Advisory Committee established to provide independent advice to the Secretary of Defense. Statements, opinions, conclusions, and recommendations in this report do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of Defense.


The current Strategic Communication Task Force re-examined the purposes of strategic communication and the salience of recommendations in the earlier study. It then considered the following questions:

(1) What are the consequences of changes in the strategic communication environment?
(2) What Presidential direction and strategic communication means are required?
(3) What should be done about public diplomacy and open military information operations?

The Task Force met with representatives from the National Security Council (NSC), White House Office of Global Communications, Department of State (DOS), Department of Defense (DOD), Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), and the private sector.

http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2004-09-Strategic_Communication.pdf

ADSURLS 17, FY 2005

Afghanistan: From Presidential to Parliamentary Elections. [Asia Report No. 88] November 23, 2004. Executive Summary:http://www.icg.org/home/index.cfm?id=3127&l=1 [Dari version, html format, 5 printed pages]Item# 05AD156 MPP Theme: 12EL
Geo: Asia

Afghanistan Opium Survey 2004. November 2004.http://www.unodc.org/pdf/afg/afghanistan_opium_survey_2004.pdf [pdf format, 125 pages]Item# 05AD163 MPP Theme: 09 Geo: Asia

Braille Literacy: Resources for Instruction, Writing Equipment, and Supplies. Web-posted November 23, 2004.http://www.loc.gov/nls/reference/circulars/brailleliteracy.html [html format, 42 printed pages]Item# 05AD157 MPP Theme: 12ED Geo: Global

A Description of the Immigrant Population. November 23, 2004.http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/60xx/doc6019/11-23-Immigrant.pdf [pdf format, 37 pages]Item# 05AD158 MPP Theme: 8A Geo: USA

Disability and Retirement: The Early Exit of Baby Boomers from the Labor Force. November 22, 2004.http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/60xx/doc6018/11-22-LaborForce.pdf [pdf format, 28 pages]Item# 05AD159 MPP Theme: 5I Geo: USA

European Competitiveness Report 2004. Web-posted November 25, 2004.http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/competitiveness/doc/comprep_2004_en.pdf [pdf format, 359 pages]Item# 05AD155 MPP Theme: 4B Geo: Europe

How the Drug War in Afghanistan Undermines America's War on Terror. November 10, 2004.http://www.cato.org/pubs/fpbriefs/fpb84.pdf [pdf format, 8 pages]Item# 05AD161 MPP Theme: 9C; 11 Geo: Asia

International Trade in GMOs [Genetically Modified Organisms]: Legal Frameworks and Developing Country Concerns. November 8, 2004.http://www.unctad.org/en/docs//ditctncd20041_en.pdf [pdf format, 19 pages]Item# 05AD162 MPP Theme: 5O Geo: LDCs

Resuscitating the Bioweapons Ban: U.S. Industry Experts' Plans for Treaty Monitoring. November 2004.http://www.csis.org/isp/041117_Bioweapons.pdf [pdf format, 114 pages]Item# 05AD164 MPP Theme: 2A; 1I Geo: Global

Trends in Educational Equity of Girls & Women: 2004. Web-posted November 19, 2004.http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005016.pdf [pdf format, 116 pages]Item# 05AD160 MPP Theme: 12ED; 12DIG Geo: USA

Thomas gets a facelift

Thomas will have a new and improved look before the 109th Congress convenes on Jan.5 - for a preview see http://thomas.loc.gov/home/redesign/

NeighborSearch

Here's a useful tool, and and example of the generous spirit of the internet! For a while I'd been looking - unsuccessfully - for a tool that would limit Google searches to the sites that a given page (e.g. a subject portal) links to. I mentioned this to Philipp Lenssen, who is the creator of findforward.com, feeeds.com and the Google Blogoscoped blog. Within 24 hours he came up with the desired tool, and it's called NeighborSearch! Many thanks,Philipp!!

Century Foundation Report: "Defeating the Jihadists"

(excerpted from Century Foundation website:

Defeating the Jihadists: A Blueprint for Action

Various Authors
Century Foundation Press, 11/16/04

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The international jihadist network of radical Islamic terrorist groups is far more extensive than just al Qaeda, and it has conducted twice as many attacks in the three years since September 11, 2001 as it did in the three years prior to that date. Defeating the Jihadists: A Blueprint for Action (Century Foundation Press, 2004), assesses the nation's successes and failures on homeland security and calls for a stronger, more effective strategy for dealing with jihadists, including al Qaeda. The report offers a detailed action plan for neutralizing the international movement at the core of worldwide terrorism. The report also describes the nature of the jihadist threat; provides comprehensive profiles of the various jihadist groups; and offers a rationale for the effort and money that would be needed to make the plan a success. The plan presented in the report builds on the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and serves as a road map for winning the war against the jihadists.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar appears to be a very interesting new resource - I was looking for perspectives on the effectiveness of the USIA-State consolidation for public diplomacy ("usia and public diplomacy") and found many things that I would have missed with a plain Google search. Shirl Kennedy and Gary Price have written a thorough review of Google Scholar at ResourceShelf, see http://www.resourceshelf.com/2004/11/wow-its-google-scholar.html

Public Diplomacy reports 2001-2004

One of the appendices to "Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Strategic Communication" (http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/reports/2004-09-Strategic_Communication.pdf) includes a useful list of central PD reports issued 2001-2004

Appendix E: Government and Independent Organization Studies of
Strategic Communication and Public Diplomacy, September 2001 –
September 2004

Building Public Diplomacy Through a Reformed Structure and Additional Resources, Report of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2002.
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/13622.pdf

Changing Minds, Winning Peace: A New Strategic Direction for U.S. Public
Diplomacy in the Arab & Muslim World, Report of the Advisory Group on Public
Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World, Submitted to the Committee on
Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives, October 1, 2003.
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/24882.pdf

Finding America’s Voice: A Strategy for Reinvigorating U.S. Public Diplomacy, Report of an Independent Task Force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, September 2003.
http://www.cfr.org/pdf/public_diplomacy.pdf

How to Reinvigorate U.S. Public Diplomacy, The Heritage Foundation, April 2003.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/bg1645.cfm

Managed Information Dissemination, Report of a Defense Science Board Task Force sponsored by the Department of Defense and Department of State, September 2001.
http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/

Public Diplomacy: A Strategy for Reform, Report of an Independent Task Force
sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, July 2002.
http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=4754.xml

Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century, Report submitted by the Public Diplomacy
Institute and Public Diplomacy Council in response to requests from staffs of the
Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, and Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, May 31, 2002.
http://pdi.gwu.edu/

Reclaiming America’s Voice Overseas, The Heritage Foundation, May 2003.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/wm273.cfm
The Need to Communicate: How to Improve U.S. Public Diplomacy with the Islamic World, The Brookings Institution, Analysis Paper #6, January 2004.
http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/analysis/amr20040101.htm

The New Diplomacy: Utilizing Innovative Communication Concepts that RecognizeResource Constraints, Report of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, 2003.
http://www.state.gov/r/adcompd/rls/22818.htm

Strengthening U.S.-Muslim Communications, Report of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, July 2003.
http://www.thepresidency.org/pubs/US-MuslimCommunications.pdf

The Rise of Netpolitik: How the Internet is Changing International Politics and Diplomacy, Report of the Eleventh Annual Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology, 2003.
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/AspenInstitute/files/CCLIBRARYFILES/FILENAME/000
0000077/netpolitik.pdf

U.S. International Broadcasting: Enhanced Measure of Local Media Conditions Would Facilitate Decisions to Terminate Language Services. Report of the U.S. General Accountability Office to the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, February 2004.
http://www.gao.gao/cgi-bin/getrpt?GA0-04-374

U.S. International Broadcasting: New Strategic Approach Focuses on Reaching Large Audiences but Lacks Measurable Program Objectives, Report of the U.S. General Accountability Office to the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, July 2003
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03772.pdf

U.S. Public Diplomacy: State Department and Broadcasting Board of Governors Expand Efforts in the Middle East but Face Significant Challenges, Testimony of the U.S. General Accountability Office before the Subcommittee on National Security,Emerging Threats, and International Relations, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, February 10, 2004.
http://www.gao.gov/cgl-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-435T

U.S. Public Diplomacy: State Department Expands Efforts But Faces Significant Challenges, Report of the U.S. General Accountability Office to the Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, September 2003. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03951.pdf

U.S. International Broadcasting: Challenges Facing the Broadcasting Board of Governors, Testimony of the U.S. General Accountability Office before the
Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism, Committee on Foreign
Relations, U.S. Senate, April 29, 2004.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04627t.pdf

Fagan Finder

Fagan Finder (www.faganfinder.com) provides many useful tools, including a Speed Browse feature (http://www.faganfinder.com/misc/browse.html) that allows you to queue up websites for accelerated browsing (nice for presentations!), a URL info tool http://www.faganfinder.com/urlinfo/ that provides many kinds of kind of information about a website, and bookmarklets, which have many different uses. Well worth a look!

Post Election Poll

Election 2004Source: National Annenberg Election Survey Post-Election Polling Shows Public Coming to Believe United States Is “Generally Going in Right Direction,” Annenberg Data Indicates (PDF; 96 KB)"After the re-election of President George W. Bush, the American public has become more optimistic about the general direction of the country and more supportive of him personally and as president, the University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey shows."

Errors in English

Paul Brians of Washington State University has created a useful site devoted to "Common Errors in English," which should be of interest to English teachers everywhere! Another useful site is Stewart Clark's "English Matters" ; Clark is a Brit living in Norway and has developed this site with a Norwegian audience in mind, but his nicely organized collection of language resources will also be useful for a more general audience of teachers and non-native speakers of English.