A new White House report to Congress (pdf) defines “strategic communication” as “the synchronization of our words and deeds as well as deliberate efforts to communicate and engage with intended audiences.”
“This understanding of strategic communication is driven by a recognition that what we do is often more important than what we say because actions have communicative value and send messages,” the report stated. “Every action that the United States Government takes sends a message.”
Unfortunately, the report does not begin to acknowledge any instances in which U.S. government actions are inconsistent with U.S. government words, thus necessitating their “synchronization,” and so it is not very illuminating.
A copy of the report, transmitted to Congress on March 16 and reported March 25 by Inside the Pentagon, is available here.
The report refers in passing to a Presidential Study Directive on Development, a document that has not yet surfaced in the public domain.
At a time when universities are already facing intense pressure to re-envision their role in the S&T ecosystem, we encourage NSF to ensure that the ambitious research acceleration remains compatible with their expertise.
FAS CEO Daniel Correa recently spoke with Adam Marblestone and Sam Rodriques, former FAS fellows who developed the idea for FROs and advocated for their use in a 2020 policy memo.
In a year when management issues like human capital, IT modernization, and improper payments have received greater attention from the public, examining this PMA tells us a lot about where the Administration’s policy is going to be focused through its last three years.
Congress must enact a Digital Public Infrastructure Act, a recognition that the government’s most fundamental responsibility in the digital era is to provide a solid, trustworthy foundation upon which people, businesses, and communities can build.