by Steven R. Corman Earlier this week John Brown posted a blog questioning those of us who have expressed concern about slow movement on filling the position of Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department. Maybe this go-slow approach is not such a bad thing, he says. I [...]

by Steven R. Corman In an earlier post I commented on what seemed to be a rather unambitious Public Diplomacy agenda outlined by Secretary Hillary Clinton in her confirmation hearings.  At the time I noted that the new administration was just getting started and there was no point getting alarmed.  Since then there have been [...]

by Steven R. Corman Yesterday Walter Pincus at WaPo published an article entitled Clinton’s Goals Detailed that contains the first news I’ve seen about how the Obama administration intends to fix U.S. public diplomacy.  The second paragraph says: In the battle of ideas, she said, the United States would go on the offensive implementing President-elect [...]

by Mark Woodward in Yogyakarta Indonesia As was reported last week, on August 6 Abbu Bakar Bashir announced his resignation as Amir of the Islamist organization Majelis Mujahid Indonesia or Indonesian Council of Jihad Fighters (MMI). His announcement, only days before the organization’s general convention, came as something of a surprise. It may lead some [...]

by Steven R. Corman As reported yesterday by Sharon Weinberger at Danger Room, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has resurfaced on the lecture circuit, calling for the (re-?) creation of (something kinda-sorta like) the old USIA (but not really): We need someone in the United States government, some entity, not like the old USIA [...]

We need a commission whose task is to determine what prevents the government from moving toward solutions to problems that are repeatedly acknowledged in reports by its commissions, boards, and agencies.

Producing enough warm bodies to fill job vacancies is not enough. Educating students to embrace the current defense industry will only reproduce our shortcomings in the war on terror. We will teach a new generation exactly how to continue losing it.