That’s how Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld describes the state of US government operations in the 21st century. The substance of his remarks during a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations described the considerable disadvantage facing the US in the public opinion realm compared to violent extremists who have “media relations committees.” Rumsfeld wants to transform DOD’s public affairs force from a reactive, eight-hour-day activity to a proactive 24/7 operation. Without doing so, he says, leaves the US with an “unacceptably dangerous deficiency.”
In the final few hours before the Senate adjourned for its Memorial Day recess on May 26, lawmakers approved a raft of some 3,400 pending military nominations, including a number of high-profile Air Force and Space Force generals to assignments that will significantly reshape some of the upper echelons of…