Getting serious about strategic influence

By J Michael Waller / Journal of International Security Affairs / December 2009. A decade has passed since the Clinton administration and the late Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) joined hands in destroying America’s public diplomacy machinery. The shocking development occurred for a combination of reasons: a turf-conscious State Department that wanted total control of public diplomacy … Read more

Cultural battlespace: Muslim rockers resist extremism

by J Michael Waller / Serviam / January-February 2008. Al Qaeda has identified one type of enemy that it can’t fight against: Muslim rock stars. U.S. intelligence discovered evidence that the terrorist group had considered murdering top Egyptian performing artists for being “infidels” but decided against it for fear of creating a youth grassroots backlash from Arabs. … Read more

Public Diplomacy Reader launched at Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation hosted the official launch of The Public Diplomacy Reader, Professor J. Michael Waller’s 500-page compendium published by IWP Press. The event, held September 20, was organized by Helle Dale, Deputy Director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at Heritage. Dr. Waller gave a presentation about the book and its purpose, explaining that he … Read more

Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War

This ground-breaking monograph by J Michael Waller departs from the conventional view of public diplomacy and international communication in time of war and argues for deploying messages as weapons of attack against the terrorists and other extremists. Proposing an immediate-term strategy that requires no bureaucratic reorganization or major budgetary changes, Fighting the War of Ideas like … Read more

Hudson Institute & McCormick Tribune Foundation host Waller at broadcasting conference

[News release] Annenberg Professor of International Communication J. Michael Waller was a participant at a conference on international broadcasting sponsored by the Hudson Institute and the McCormick Tribune Foundation. The April 25-27 event brought together former directors of the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, former government officials, current military information operations officers, and other professional communicators to discuss … Read more

The American way of propaganda: Lessons from the founding fathers

by J. Michael Waller, Public Diplomacy and Political Warfare White Paper No. 1, The Institute of World Politics, 2006. This article is the first in a series of White Papers about the transformation of American public diplomacy and strategic communication. Introduction One of the most contentious debates in the war on terrorism centers on the “hearts … Read more

Information a vital weapon

by J Michael Waller, USA Today, December 7, 2005. [USA Today ran an editorial that criticizes the US military for planting propaganda in the Iraqi press. The editors invited Professor J. Michael Waller to provide an opposing view after the Pentagon refused. Both pieces appeared together on December 7. For the USA Today editorial, click here. Dr. Waller’s column … Read more

What to do about Venezuela: The case for political & psychological strategy

by J. Michael Waller / Occasional Paper Series No. 6 / Center for Security Policy, May 2005. Among the more troubling legacies Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has inherited is one of neglect towards the Western Hemisphere, a legacy that has seriously diminished the United States’ stature and influence in most of the Americas This is due, in … Read more

Public diplomacy: A vital component of US aid in the Americas (House, 2003)

J. Michael Waller, Annenberg Professor of International Communication Testimony before the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs Subcommittee International Relations Committee, U.S. House of Representatives, November 5, 2003. Text TK