Blogging for the NSC

Another interesting recommendation from that Defense Science Board report to the DoD: "We recommend that the president work with Congress to create legislation and funding for an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan center for strategic communication to support the National Security Council." The so-called Center for Strategic Communication would need about $100-150 million a year, to do stuff like pay weblogs for disseminating America-friendly messages to countries "ripe and important"—the report's vivid phrase for places "where the risk of U.S. intervention is high." In bureaucratic jibber-jabber:

Subcontracting to the commercial and academic sectors for a range of products and programs that communicate strategic themes and messages to appropriate target audiences. Broad themes and messages would include respect for human dignity and individual rights; for individual education and economic opportunity; and for personal freedom, safety, and mobility. Examples of products would be a children's TV series (Arabic Sesame Street); video and interactive games; support for the distribution and production of selected foreign films; and Web communications including blogs, chat rooms, and electronic journals.

It should be pointed out that "a number of senior administration officials took part in the study as integral participants, officials from not only the Department of Defense but also the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the intelligence community."