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Bloggers respond to my new magazine on global stability solutions

With the role of the private sector growing in the global stability field, I'm enthused to announce a new magazine devoted to the subject. One of the reasons for my enthusiasm is because I'm the editor. Another reason is that everyone from Mother Jones to Keith Olbermann's MSNBC show are choking on it.

Serviam's first issue just came out and has already been getting attention in the blogosphere. The magazine's name is Latin for "I will serve," and it stresses service to humanity through private sector solutions. Our lead editorial describes the publication's purpose.

Here's the link to our homepage, with info on the publication and how to subscribe.

Now for the fun: We're already getting some irreverent treatment among the bloggers at Wired, Mother Jones and Gawker. They compare our happy little magazine to Soldier of Fortune. In the words of the Mother Jones blogger, Serviam is a "sleeker, tamer version of SOF."

Not really, but we'll take that as a compliment considering the source. Gotta love the Mother Jones coverage:

It was only a matter of time before an entrepreneurial publisher seized on the private military contracting boom—and all those untapped ad dollars—in order to give Soldier of Fortune, long the preeminent mag for hired guns, a run for its money. That time has arrived and the mag is called Serviam (Latin for "I will serve"). Edited by conservative author and think tanker J. Michael Waller and published by EEI Communications (whose president, James T. deGraffenreid, is a board member of Frank Gaffney's hawkish Center for Security Policy), the magazine bills itself as a provider of "accurate and actionable information about private sector solutions to promote global stability." Serviam is a sleeker, tamer version of SOF, which, like the companies it caters to, is seeking to soften the mercenary image, casting soldiers-for-hire as international peacekeepers.

To hear Waller tell it in his inaugural editor's note, private security firms are as central to America's heritage as the pilgrims themselves.

Ephemerist, in his own blog, says our magazine will "make a great Christmas present." But I infer from the tone of his comment that he isn't really serious. BlogforDemocracy calls us "completely terrifying." The fan club of Keith Olbermann says Rachel Maddow talked about Serviam on the November 1 MSNBC show.

Many are upset that we actually show Captain John Smith of Jamestown and Captain Myles Standish of Plymouth for what they were: retired professional soldiers-turned-private security contractors who led the civilians to safety in America where they built a new society.

Gawker, based in Manhattan, is horrified about our historical review that asserts that America owes its first Thanksgiving to the 17th century's version of Blackwater. We're told by Very Important People in New York City that we've hit the big time with Gawker.

Pulling a chunk out of Ephemerist's comment, Gawker writes, "did you know that if not for mercenaries—sorry, Private Security Contractors—there would have been no Thanksgiving? It's true! Myles Standish was basically the forefather of Blackwater. Also, Capt. John Smith. PSCs are basically as American as apple pie. Yeah. Apple pie that shoots you."

Now that's a neat idea!

Sharon Weinberger, blogging on Wired magazine's "Danger Room," comments, "Will Serviam someday rank among the names of other well known defense titles, like Aviation Week & Space Technology or Jane's Defence Weekly (and with duly noted bias, I'll add in Defense Technology International). I have no idea, but I wish them luck!"

Bloggers Aaron R. Linderman and Christopher Fulford, on Statecraft & Security, find Serviam to be "interesting, innovative and enlightening." Watch those two - they're going places.

To top it off, Blackwater - an advertiser in Serviam - announced the launch of the magazine in its hot Blackwater Tactical Weekly newsletter.

Sleazy setup, Geraldo-style

Geraldo Rivera's evil "twin" is his brother Craig, producer of his bottom-feeding Fox News show. Craig played a dirty trick yesterday in his segment on Blackwater USA, the company that provides security for the State Department in Iraq.

Craig wanted me on the show, he said, to talk about the history of private security contractors (PSCs) in America. He had read my September 28 essay in RealClearPolitics.com about how PSCs have been the part of our history since Captain John Smith landed in Virginia in 1607, and Captain Myles Standish was hired to protect the Pilgrims on their Mayflower voyage to establish Plymouth Colony in 1620.

After a pre-interview over the phone yesterday (September 30) he mentioned that Geraldo had a family conflict and wouldn't be doing the show, and that a stand-in, a former prosecutor, would take his place. He asked if I could speak about some of the legal questions surrounding Blackwater and PSCs in Iraq and that I'd probably be asked on the show.

All well and good. What Craig Rivera didn't say was that I'd be up against the mother and brother of one of the Blackwater men, Jerry Zovko, whom extremists murdered and mutilated in Fallujah in 2004. And apparently he didn't tell them that they would be facing someone else, either.

It was a setup. The Blackwater segment came at the end of the show, following prurient segments on child-rape porn and other sensationalistic garbage. It opened with Craig's heavily biased (and factually inaccurate) video about Blackwater. Even so, I thought it would still be a good segment to talk about on the show. Instead, in a separate studio were Jerry Zovko's mother and brother who were there to tell their story - not discuss the history of PMCs.

So when the hostess asked me her first and only question - about legal accountability for Blackwater and other PSCs - the subject deteriorated on takeoff. I mentioned that the firms are now accountable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, to the Attorney General, and to the State Department under what I take are very tightly written contracts. I added that such accountability isn't good enough for those who stand to make millions from suing Blackwater. Had I been allowed to finish, I would have blamed a California trial lawyer, not family members, as being the war profiteer.

But I couldn't get that part out because the brother of the dead Blackwater guard started yelling. He appeared to think that the Geraldo producers had set up his mother and him. He was visibly very angry. Who could blame him? It was clear that Craig Rivera hadn't been truthful with the Zovkos either when inviting them on the show. The hostess made a displeased comment, cut off the program, and that was the end of it.

All in all another sick Rivera stunt, setting up the family of a dead man. I sympathize with the Zovko family.

To view the video of the segment on Geraldo at Large, click here.

US Naval Institute Proceedings gives thumbs-up to war of ideas book

Proceedings, the magazine of the United States Naval Institute, runs a favorable review of my book, Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War.

In the August 2007 issue, Lt. Dan Reiher, USN, says that the book "clearly demonstrates that the new thrust in the war of ideas does not have to originate in US government releases."

The Navy reviewer concludes, "By focusing primarily on the offensive aspects of strategic communication, the author has made a worthwhile contribution to what must be a key component of U.S. strategy in the terrorism war. For those who find themselves in a position to affect U.S. communication efforts, or to influence our image among allies and adversaries, this book should be placed at the top of their must-read list."

Proceedings does not publish the book reviews in its current online editions, but the attached document contains a copy of the review: Download proceedings_review_aug_07.pdf

The AP Stylebook for political propaganda

The Associated Press gives us a fine example today of political propaganda disguised as news. Kudos to AP national writer Deborah Hastings who has penned an easy-to-dissect non-story.

Let's take a look: The subject is Hastings' undatelined article published August 11 with the headline, "Iraq contractors accused in shootings." With Yahoo News featuring it as a top story, I expected to read about a new incident. I was wrong. The piece is just a rehash of old news reports from 2004 and 2005, and a well-reported incident from last May.

Here are some clues that indicate a piece of political propaganda disguised as journalism:

1. The article is full of old news. There's no news "hook," nothing that happened in the past few days that would make it a legitimate news story - especially on a wire service like AP.
2. The article contains demonstrable inaccuracies. The biggest one is this sweeping and false generalization: that private military contractors in Iraq "operate with little or no supervision, accountable only to the firms employing them." The fact is that the firms are closely regulated by the government contracting offices that retain them and operate under federal law.
3. The reporter editorializes by citing vague and unnamed sources to push an agenda: "Some military analysts and government officials say the contractors could be tried under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act." Hastings doesn't cite a single military analyst or government official. But she echoes the line of antiwar critics who want to try bring private security providers under the military, not civil, laws - even contractors who don't work for the Pentagon.
4. The AP article appears just as an überpartisan congressman, Rep. Henry Waxman (pictured), gears up for another show trial against private contractors. But Hastings didn't inform the readers about his latest activity, even though it is of direct relevance to the story.
5. AP reporter Deborah Hastings regularly covers Waxman's "investigations" and hearings as part of her beat, and nailing private defense and security providers has been one of her hobby horses.

Funny, but this breach of journalistic ethics doesn't appear in the 2007 AP Stylebook. On the bright side, Hastings has finally come out of the closet.

Now available: The Public Diplomacy Reader

It's finally out: The Public Diplomacy Reader, more than 500 pages of some of the most important articles, letters, speeches and documents about public diplomacy and strategic communication.

Published by The Institute of World Politics Press and edited by your humble blogger, The Public Diplomacy Reader has already been assigned as a textbook at National Defense University.

Carnes Lord of the US Naval War College calls The Public Diplomacy Reader "unique and outstanding." Voice of America historian Alan Heil says the book has "a commanding sweep of history." And former VOA Director Robert Reilly says that the Reader is "indispensable for both students and anyone wishing to win the 'war of ideas.'"

In a few weeks The Public Diplomacy Reader will be available on Amazon.com, but until then, you can purchase it online directly from the printer.  Click on the following:  PAPERBACK EDITION $34.95    HARDBOUND EDITION $49.95   DOWNLOAD $19.95

War of Ideas strategy now available on Amazon

My new book, Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War, is now available from online booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Armed Forces Journal recently ran a profile of the book. Editor-in-chief Karen Walker writes, "this guide offers ways that could discredit, divide and ultimately squelch the enemy into a blob of irrelevance."

RAND report: Cold War experience can strengthen moderate Muslims

By drawing from the Cold War experience of uniting democratic people against Soviet communism, the world can help moderate Muslims unite against Islamist extremists. That's the thesis of a new RAND Corporation report titled Building Moderate Muslim Networks.

“The struggle in much of the Muslim world today is a war of ideas,” said the report's lead author, Angel Rabasa, a RAND senior policy analyst. “This is not a war of civilizations; it’s not Islam versus the West. It’s a struggle within Islam to define the character of Islam.”

“We cannot come in as outsiders, as a non-Muslim country, and discredit the radicals’ ideology,” Rabasa said. “Muslims have to do that themselves. What we can do is level the playing field by empowering the moderates.” This empowerment should come not as an afterthought, but as a basic element of US strategy.  Click here to order or download the report.

'Why America Is Such a Hard Sell'

It was a red-hot afternoon at the Heritage Foundation on February 12, when four international communication experts from the Institute of World Politics had a panel discussion on the "war of ideas."

The subject matter: Professor Juliana Pilon's newest book, Why America Is Such a Hard Sell (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007).

Dr. Lee Edwards, who is both a fellow at Heritage and an Adjunct Professor at IWP, was the moderator. The other two IWP professors were Dr. J. Michael Waller, Annenberg Professor of International Communication at IWP and editor of PoliticalWarfare.org; and Associate Professor John Yurechko, an information operations pioneer who is currently director of analysis and collection at the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive (ONCIX).

To watch the video of the event, click here. Or click for Streaming MP3, Save MP3, or Details.

Strategic Communication: Report of the Defense Science Board

Now available to the general public in printed form, this landmark report from the Defense Science Board is revolutionizing the way diplomats, warfighters and other national security professionals think and act.

Strategic Communication lays out the framework for a new national doctrine about using information operations, public diplomacy, public affairs and other tools in an integrated fashion to promote US military and policy goals. A reprint by Crossbow Books. 102 pp.

New book calls for US political warfare offensive

A new book outlining ten ways to win the war against the terrorists calls for the US to wage political warfare against its enemies abroad. "While we wage it against each other incessantly - Republicans against Democrats, liberals against conservatives, etc. - we have largely failed to use political warfare against our enemies, or even to organize ourselves to do so," author Frank Gaffney argues in his book, War Footing. His solution: Give the Department of Defense responsibility for political warfare as an instrument of national defense. The editor of PoliticalWarfare.org assisted with this book.

Author: Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. Source: War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail (Naval Institute Press, 2005).