FAS

White House Report on Strategic Communication

03.29.10 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

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.

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