Air Wars: the Air Force Takes Heat for its PR

FACT: A heated online debate is erupting about a particular photo posted online, and the brouhaha around it focuses on whether or not classified details are contained therein, thus revealing them. 

ANALYSIS: Given that others are even now writing extensively about this photo and its controversy I thought I would add a couple of thoughts.  Don’t bother blaming me for linking to the photo, by the way; given the attention and reposting/rehosting it has already received, the glare of publicity can only serve to prod better security practices. 

I expect to see parody versions on Flickr soon, with “Area 51” touches.

And so to my related thoughts: recently, an active-duty USAF officer and regular reader emailed me about one of my posts concerning Rod Beckstrom and the new National Cyber Security Center, which he had not previously heard of.  He wrote that in discussing it with a colleague, the response was “I thought the Air Force Cyber Command already had the mission to coordinate all cyber security efforts.”

After all, as evidence one can cite the Air Force’s new media campaign for Cyber Command — if you’re not familiar with it (meaning you never watch one of the Sunday morning talking-head shows), check out the glitzy and impressive PR hub at http://www.airforce.com/achangingworld/.

One can understand that mistake, as the ads do appear to give the impression that the Air Force is responsible for all cyber security efforts; even a close listener can barely parse that the implication is only for protecting DoD, but even that’s quite broad.  One commercial has a doom-voiced narrator intoning over a dramatic aerial view of the Pentagon:

This building will be attacked 3 million times today. Who is going to protect it? Meet Staff Sergeant Lee Jones, Air Force Cyber Command, a member of America’s only cyber command, protecting us from millions of cyber threats every day. It takes Air Force technology to defend America in a changing world.

My email correspondent asked, “Do you think these ads are a bit misleading?”  I’ve seen that commercial myself, and while I don’t think it’s misleading, I was struck with how “service-chauvinistic” it is; not very joint-minded or “purple.”  I got used to trying to think purple at DIA, which of course supports all services and defense elements.  My first month at the DIAC I was told that my group had to change its new marketing scheme from the green I had chosen to purple (we wound up using black instead, just to be cool).

There’s been quite a bit of buzz lately about the overall aggressiveness of Air Force in marketing itself, particularly to those inside the Beltway.  No one begrudges the Thunderbird tours; my father and brother (both USAF retired) and I have always loved those.  That effort and many others like it (base tours, local ceremonies and publicity, overseas community visits) serve both recruiting and goodwill purposes.  But what grabs notice are the kind of service-centric chauvinism that each of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force succumb to periodically where big dollars are concerned, and recent commentary seems to focused on the Air Force “above all.” (That’s actually one of their new marketing slogans, as a matter fact: Above All.)

Nothing new in government: when there are big bucks at stake, people get, shall we say, motivated.  Here’s another relevant example: the latest battles in the “Tanker Wars”, which are being fought on the Web via competitive sites like globaltanker.com (Boeing) and americasnewtanker.com (Northrop Grumman).

Email this post to a friend