OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

1400 DEFENSE PENTAGON

WASHINGTON. DC 20301-1400

PUBLIC AFFAIRS                                                                                                   15 July 2003

 

 

Mr. Armond Simmons

104 Wadsworth Lane

PeIl City, AL 35128

 

Dear Mr. Simmons:

 

Thank you for your electronic mail transmission of April 28, 2003, to Senator Richard Shelby, expressing concern about the Department of Defense media embed program. The Senator forwarded your note, with an accompanying letter, to Mr. Powell A. Moore, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, requesting a response from the Department of Defense.

 

There is no “cookie cutter method for media coverage of military operations. The media embed program for Operation Iraqi Freedom is a first. It will not be the last. Other military engagements will require different approaches to facilitating press coverage.

 

The media in some form or other is an actor on the battlefield. The Department of Defense will not shirk our responsibility for assuring that the people of our country are provided the maximum amount of information available about their military forces without jeopardizing our operational security and or force protection.

 

Embedded media will not always report “good news.” Their job is to report the good, the bad, and the ugly. Though some reporter may interpret a routine battlefield event or military tactic as a “failure” and convey it as such, consumers will not always accept “negative” interpretations as fact. The American people are astute; they recognize situations for what they are. Regardless the perception of the reporter, or the tone of his or her product, information released by the Department of Defense must be truthful.

 

You can be sure that the media embed program will be studied for some time to come.

Again, thank you very much for relaying to Senator Shelby your concerns and insights about the Department of Defense media embed program. We are grateful for your support for the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces fighting the global war on terrorism.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

 

Janice M. Simms

Acting Director for Public Inquiry and

 Analysis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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