Politics: A Christmas Gift for the Pentagon

Now playing: Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V at www.slatev.com.
Politics A Christmas Gift for the Pentagon Remember how it turned retired generals into media shills? Lax oversight means it could happen again. By Bruce Ackerman Posted Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011, at 05:58 PM ET This is a time of good cheer at the Pentagon—its watchdog, the inspector general, has just ruled that its Bush-era campaign to manipulate the media was entirely acceptable under Defense Department regulations. The report, dated Nov. 11, was held back until Christmas Eve, when it was released at the happiest time of the year. But we should not allow it to slip into oblivion. In response to Sept. 11, the Pentagon's publicity department organized at least 161 "outreach" meetings with retired military officers serving as television commentators on the war effort. The Pentagon provided this select group with high level briefings, showering them with talking points and otherwise equipping them to be media defenders of administration policy. The meetings were suspended in 2008 amid a first wave of reports alleging improprieties. The inspector general responded with a defense of the outreach program in 2009, but his initial report was so full of errors that he retracted it and went back to the drawing board. The inspector general's office has now returned with a much more comprehensive effort, aiming to determine whether the program's purpose was to provide a "free flow of news and information" and "to benefit a broadly representational community." It had a tough time coming up with an answer, since its investigators found that the Pentagon's effort was a seat-of-the-pants operation. It never produced serious guidelines on how "outreach" should proceed; nor did it keep serious records of what actually occurred. The inspector ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate South Hadley Reveals How Much It Paid Phoebe Prince's Family in Settlement Why Was There So Much Whistling in Pop This Year? The Incredibly Vicious Dishwasher Wars of 2011	Advertisement
Manage your newsletters subscription: Unsubscribe | Forward to a Friend | Advertising Information
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to slatenewsletter@nl.slate.com. Copyright 2011 The Slate Group | Privacy Policy The Slate Group | c/o E-mail Customer Care | 1350 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 410 | Washington, D.C. 20036