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February 17, 2006BELTWAY BLOGROLL
War In The Era Of Blogs
The United States faces new challenges in fighting a war against terror in a new media era, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today, and blogs are part of the equation.
Rumsfeld made the comments in a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He noted that in many ways the United States is ill-prepared for the first war in history that is being waged in an era of blogs, the Internet, e-mail, instant messaging, BlackBerries, digital cameras, cellular telephones and other technological advances.
Two particular references to blogs are worth noting. The first involves how the Pentagon is engaging them:
[G]overnment public affairs and public diplomacy efforts must reorient staffing, schedules and culture to engage the full range of media that are having such an impact today. Our U.S. Central Command, for example, has launched an online communications effort that includes electronic news updates and a links campaign that has resulted in several hundred blogs receiving and publishing CENTCOM content.
The second notes the role blogs are playing in spreading information, even in repressive countries:
I believe with every bone in my body that free people, exposed to sufficient information, will, over time, find their way to right decisions. Throughout the world, advances in technology are forcing a massive information flow that dictatorships and extremists ultimately will not be able to control. Blogs are rapidly appearing even in countries where the press is still government-controlled.
Posted by | 08:54 PM
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