NBC's "One-Man Military-Industrial-Media Complex"

By Diane Farsetta, PR Watch. Posted December 8, 2008.

On Saturday, August 27, Whitman emailed Petraeus, asking him to call McCaffrey and the other two pundits. "If past experience is any indication, it really helps their commentary if they have the opportunity to spend a few minutes to hear from somebody who is actually out there doing it," Whitman explained. Di Rita then asked Petraeus to keep in mind that the pundits "want to be extremely critical of the policy, of the secdef and his supposed bad plans, but very supportive of their fellow generals. … It's b.s., and you might want to help these guys better understand the situation in this regard."

Petraeus talked to McCaffrey that same day and emailed back a report to the group of Pentagon PR staffers. "GEN McC," he wrote, "frankly, has some bomb chucker ideas that I tried to temper, but I'm not sure I succeeded. (Told him for ex that we got $5.7B this year!)"

The pundit documents also describe attempts to counter or neutralize McCaffrey's criticism of Rumsfeld. On December 7, 2005, McCaffrey said on NBC's "Today" show, referring to Iraq, "Clearly bad judgments were made by the civilian leadership and the Pentagon going into this war. … It didn't have to be this way. One would think Secretary Rumsfeld and others would be held accountable. … I'm surprised, to be honest, [Rumsfeld's] still there [as Secretary of Defense]. … I think it's up to the Senate to act. You know, we've got Senator John Warner, Chuck Hagel, John McCain, Jack Reid … who understand national security. About time for them to step in and make their views known."

McCaffrey's comments caused a flurry of emails among Pentagon PR staffers. One suggested, "We ought to get this to warner. He should know mccaffrey is using his name and tagging him to reed [sic], et al."

In an August 2006 email exchange included in the Pentagon pundit documents, think tank hawk and former Defense Department official Frank Gaffney complained about McCaffrey to one of Rumsfeld's assistants. "I am spending a lot of time defending Don," Gaffney emailed, "for example at 9:00 a.m. this morning on MSNBC against Barry McCaffrey."

The Fleishman-Hillard connection

McCaffrey's punditry was frequently critical of Rumsfeld -- with the notable exception, described by Barstow, of McCaffrey's attempts to ingratiate himself to the Administration, following his expulsion from the Pentagon pundit program. However, his commentary consistently aligned with -- and sometimes directly promoted -- the interests of his clients. McCaffrey's publicist told Barstow that the retired general "worked with clients 'to get your mission achieved in the media'" and often spoke "with the twin goals of shaping policy and generating favorable coverage for clients with worthy products or ideas."

McCaffrey might have learned his media skills from Fleishman-Hillard, a PR firm whose clients have included the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, GlaxoSmithKline, AT&T, the Biotechnology Industry Organization and Election Systems & Software.

Since 2003, McCaffrey has advised Fleishman-Hillard's government relations unit. He's also on the firm's international advisory board, which Fleishman-Hillard touts as "a powerful client resource" whose members offer advice, write op/eds and give speeches. McCaffrey also helped launch Fleishman-Hillard's homeland security practice in 2003, which one Fleishman executive described at the time as a way to meet the "tremendous need … to communicate" with the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security, "whether it is to sell something or whether to lobby for some particular position."

See more stories tagged with: new york times, donald rumsfeld, nbc, david barstow, barry mccaffrey, pentagon pundits, pentagon propaganda

Diane Farsetta is senior researcher at the Center for Media and Democracy.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »