Matt Armstrong

Political warfare, public diplomacy; frmr Gov @ Broadcasting Board of Governors; now writing a PhD @ KCL; gravel rider; did ultras & Ironmans; 🇺🇸in🇨🇭via🇬🇧

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

“So long as we remain amateurs in the critical field of political warfare, the billions of dollars we annually spend on defense and foreign aid will provide us with a diminishing measure of protection.” Senator Thomas J. Dodd, 1961

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

No, the Smith-Mundt Act doesn't apply to the Defense Department
https://t.co/FBoB4vJi6r

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

Eisenhower, Dulles, and USIA: can the past provide lessons for the present? https://t.co/fQ2CkfDrDs

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

R Changes Coming? A look at the overdue nomination for Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy https://t.co/oYSqGx3QXy

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

Sometimes the commonly accepted fact is not a fact. File this one under the history of "information warfare" and public diplomacy. https://t.co/r3OJ9sh3Dt

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

New from me... https://t.co/8P2e7hQOTj

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

Earlier this week, I posted a quiz asking readers to select which year an evergreen statement was made. Answers to the first 5 of the 11 statements are available now. https://t.co/ZZZIiMmvBg

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

This week's newsletter is a bunch of (evergreen) quotes for the reader to pick what year they were said or written...
https://t.co/jPSAPfDl6r

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

My latest: The deficiency of "information": Reflecting on the Cognitive Crucible pod interview of Russ Burgos + my Friday video chat https://t.co/VAwCN8q66h

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

We don't have an organizational problem, we have a leadership problem (reshared in case you missed it last week)
https://t.co/gv6vloUEaT

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

US public diplomacy, strategic communication, countering disinformation, correcting misinformation, filling in the gaps where there's no information are all critical to national security, ours and many others. But it's not a priority with virtually anyone. https://t.co/gv6vlpcfzt

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

The this commission was est'd in 1948 to be on top of the issues the IG GEC report id'd + absence of the U/S for PD/PA (GPA?), training / support / integration / execution / org etc of "PD"... but won't & can't: they are simply unqualified/uninterested. https://t.co/ivJgrqbkIW

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

Remembering the position of Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs actually exists... or does it?
https://t.co/bdYnvr54LN

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

A primer / discussion on Smith-Mundt and responding to foreign language influence activities in the U.S. https://t.co/QFJOjwzyiR

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

"considering... 'gray zone' is the space between peace and war, or traditional uniform combat, this framing inherently separates peace into something else. However, it is the peace that others seek to disrupt, it is a starting point, and it is a place we must proactively defend."

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

"Political warfare includes all measures short of war... for hostile intent through discrete, subversive, or overt means short of open combat... Whereas gray zone tells us where along a spectrum between war and peace activities take place, political warfare tells us why."

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

“We are not really trying to win the cold war. We are putting our faith in arms and armaments to enable us to win another war should war come. Probably we can. But winning a hot war which leaves a cold war unwon will not win very much for very long.” — 1953 (tho could be 2022)

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

"We don’t have amateur military officers. Nor do amateurs manage our huge industries. Yet we have thousands of amateurs who are trying their untrained best to resist the attacks of the highly trained professional [subversives, gray zone operators, propagandists, etc]." – 1961

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

“This is not USIA-bashing, it is about putting the agency into proper perspective…There were a lot of impactful acts by USIA…but it was neither positioned nor charged with doing with much, if not all, the ‘bring back USIA’ genre alleges.” https://t.co/U68mXGftZU

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

Chris and I wrote an article correcting history, surfacing a better model than USIA, and pointing out that leadership is the cornerstone and not a by-product of a relevant organizational structure for US int'l info ops. https://t.co/kkCsdMYZ89

[Matt Armstrong @mountainrunner]

"The question of winning the war is far too complicated and far too delicate to be answered by a study of only the powers and resources of the nations in arms."