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Talk of the bay
Military solicits help in global public relations campaign
By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published April 4, 2005
Public relations pros who think they can help U.S. Special Operations Command fight a global psychological war against terrorism have until April 15 to make their pitch.
In December, the command headquartered at Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base posted a call on a government Web site for ad agencies to "enhance (the) media capabilities" of SOCom's psy-ops.
Though a SOCom spokesman defined psy-ops as "providing truthful information to foreign audiences in support of national security objectives," the posting was criticized by some who questioned the accountability of private companies producing government propaganda. Others feared that such outsourcing would only further blur the lines between psy-ops and the military's public affairs, information intended for the American public.
In mid March, SOCom refined its request, deleting references to ad agencies and psy-ops. But the command, which has about 50,000 soldiers and a 2005 budget of $6.6-billion, is basically looking for the same skill set: It wants slick media campaigns to support SOCom "in carrying out assigned missions to reach foreign audiences."
Further details await the winning bidder after the contract is awarded in June.
[Last modified April 2, 2005, 21:27:02]
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