Shill to the Stars and Stripes

The Independent profiles secretive PR executive John Rendon, whose firm often works for the U.S. government and military. "In 2001 he won a contract to handle the PR aspects of U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan. ... The following year the Pentagon hired the Rendon Group to assist its own propaganda agency, the Office of Strategic Information, which was later publicly disbanded amid claims it would engage in 'black' propaganda. In June 2003 Rendon reportedly went to work for the joint chiefs of staff, providing 'strategic communications counsel, media analysis and consultation support services.'" His success with the last task was "impressive," notes the paper, since "two-thirds of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks."