Rumsfeld Calls for Propaganda 2.0

Printer-friendly versionSend by email

Rumsfeld with Gen. Peter Pace in Nov. 2005Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is concerned that the United States "is losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world, and the answer to that, in part, is through the creation of [a] new government agency," writes Sharon Weinberger. In particular, Rumsfeld is advocating for a "21st century agency for global communcations" -- or propaganda, similar to his controversial Office of Strategic Influence. The U.S. government needs to get involved, Rumsfeld said, because "private media does not get up in the morning and say what can we do to promote the values and ideas that the free Western nations believe in?" Unlike the old U.S. Information Agency, Rumsfeld said the new agency should use "multiple channels of information. ... The Internet is there, blogs are there, talk radio is there, e-mails are there. There are all kinds of opportunities. We do not with any systematic organized way attempt to engage the battle of ideas."