Molding Perceptions: A Response
Molding Perceptions: A Response
by Lieutenant Colonel Cliff W. Gilmore
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In his Small Wars Journal article titled “Molding Perceptions: American Engagement with the Media after the bin Laden Raid”, Marno de Boer identified a basic problem associated with U.S. public communication in the days immediately following the bin Laden operation: “During the first 48 hours after the raid,” he states, “U.S. officials did not yet have a complete picture of what had happened inside the Abbottabat (sic) complex.” This statement raises several significant questions, including:
– Why didn’t U.S. officials have a complete picture of what happened inside the complex?
– Why was U.S. public communication about the raid jumbled and frequently inaccurate?
– Why did U.S. public communication about the raid originate from the top of a hierarchy geographically removed from the event?
– Why was comprehensive, deliberate, timely public-communication not an integral part of planning for the raid?
Finally why, when closing on an established long-term goal following more than a decade of persistent warfare in which public perception plays an increasingly critical role, was the U.S. unprepared to shape the strategic narrative?
Download the Full Article: Molding Perceptions: A Response
Cliff W. Gilmore is a doctoral researcher in the field of organization management and leadership with Capella University and a 2010-11 Fellow with MIT’s Seminar XXI on Foreign Politics, International Relations and the National Interest. The topic of his ongoing dissertation is principle-based communication as a leadership practice. He is an active duty U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel assigned as Special Assistant for Public Communication to the 8th Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The opinions expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Defense or the U.S. Marine Corps.
