Something I'm wondering about that you may have a comment on: Gates observes that America is failing at telling its story to others. Meanwhile, China seems to be doing better than ever in this regard. Of particular note, Xi and his team seem to be pushing the idea that China is more a civilization-state than a nation-state. Xi's new "Global Civilization Initiative" is a recent manifestation of this. I think this is a significant development. But I can't find any U.S. experts on U.S.-China relations who think so. I gather, from what I've read so far, that they dismiss it as feint--of-mind posturing by China. Aside from wondering whether I'm right or wrong, it also makes me wonder whether any past government has fielded a new strategic story about itself that succeeds in gaining powerful traction before the other side realizes it?
In addition, Matt, I'd note that I have followed, admired, and learned from your Substack posts for a while now. Much appreciation from here. Today, I'm chagrined to say, learning about USIA's precursor, the IIA, is new to me. Plus I don't find much from a Google search about it. Meanwhile, tho very slowed-down, I hope to keep writing about noopolitics. Our initial efforts to contrast realpolitik and noopolitik have never gained traction; I'm sensing a geopolitics vs. noopolitics comparison may work better. The fight for Ukraine halps substantiate this.
It is remarkable how little there is in the academic record about IIA. This is similar to so many details about the original Smith-Mundt Act. In both cases, the details do not match the later narratives. For example, I hope you saw footnote #4 in my post "A Look at the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Historical Look at the Politics of US Information Warfare": https://mountainrunner.substack.com/p/a-look-at-the-good-the-bad-and-the#footnote-4-114058220 There is a similar tale in the planned privatization of VOA, or rather establishing a non-profit funded by the government and overseen by a bipartisan board of trustees nominated by President and confirmed by the Senate with a CEO running day to day operations (paid at a market rate, by the way, and not on a government payscale). Throughout 1946 and into early 1947, this was a greater priority to the State Department than the paired (yes, paired) legislation to authorize US international information programs and exchanges (which came to be known as the Smith-Mundt Act). There are a lot of untold stories, and even more false or improperly told stories, around this legislation. Now if I would only make the time – along with writing a PhD – to finish my book on this.
Yes, I spotted that prior longer post and saved for later reading. Except a glance to assure it would interest and inform me, I still haven't gotten around to it (or footnote #4). I don't see that privatizing VOA will work well (same goes for proposals to privatize the VA too). Meanwhile, I do hope you find the time to finish.
Matt: It's been years since our last contact, but we have tried to make similar points, as in David Ronfeldt and John Arquilla, Whose Story Wins: Rise of the Noosphere, Noopolitik, and Information-Age Statecraft, RAND Corporation, PE-A237-1, July 2020.
Yes, Chez Jay still stands. For decades we had a RAND group that met their every Thursday—one of my favorite routines. But we stopped when Covid took hold, and I/we have not been back since, sadly for me. BTW, there are two follow-ups if the RAND report interests you (with apology if I'm cluttering your site):
"Rethinking Strategy and Statecraft for the Information Age: Rise of the Noosphere and Noopolitik"
I had dinner at Chez Jay a couple of weeks ago. Before the pandemic I was a lunch time regular. But the pandemic really hurt their business and they are now open only for dinner. If you are ever in Santa Monica for dinner, I highly recommend it.
A delight to hear from you too, Rand. It's been a few years. Ah, Chez Jays: Over the decades, I like to believe I have eaten more lunches there than any other RAND researcher. When I started at RAND in the 70s, it was like a tradition, even a ritual, to take a new staff member to lunch there for the first time. Now, perhaps mainly because we moved to a new building about a block away, the latest generations of researchers barely know Chez Jay's exists and have never eaten there. Or so I gather. While I doubt I'll ever get up there again, I do hope to verify someday whether a small framed card signed by a bunch of us who used to lunch there every Thursday for years (decades?) is still hanging on the wall above Table 10. Those were the days....
The last time I was there was to meet with David Ronfeldt closer to the turn of the century than now. It would be to revisit. This makes me think of the HMS Bounty bar that was across from the Ambassador Hotel. I’d eat lunch there with coworkers (I worked a block or two away) and it was like entering nighttime in the 1960s to have the baseball steak whenever passing through the door. That was years before the turn of the century!
Something I'm wondering about that you may have a comment on: Gates observes that America is failing at telling its story to others. Meanwhile, China seems to be doing better than ever in this regard. Of particular note, Xi and his team seem to be pushing the idea that China is more a civilization-state than a nation-state. Xi's new "Global Civilization Initiative" is a recent manifestation of this. I think this is a significant development. But I can't find any U.S. experts on U.S.-China relations who think so. I gather, from what I've read so far, that they dismiss it as feint--of-mind posturing by China. Aside from wondering whether I'm right or wrong, it also makes me wonder whether any past government has fielded a new strategic story about itself that succeeds in gaining powerful traction before the other side realizes it?
In addition, Matt, I'd note that I have followed, admired, and learned from your Substack posts for a while now. Much appreciation from here. Today, I'm chagrined to say, learning about USIA's precursor, the IIA, is new to me. Plus I don't find much from a Google search about it. Meanwhile, tho very slowed-down, I hope to keep writing about noopolitics. Our initial efforts to contrast realpolitik and noopolitik have never gained traction; I'm sensing a geopolitics vs. noopolitics comparison may work better. The fight for Ukraine halps substantiate this.
It is remarkable how little there is in the academic record about IIA. This is similar to so many details about the original Smith-Mundt Act. In both cases, the details do not match the later narratives. For example, I hope you saw footnote #4 in my post "A Look at the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Historical Look at the Politics of US Information Warfare": https://mountainrunner.substack.com/p/a-look-at-the-good-the-bad-and-the#footnote-4-114058220 There is a similar tale in the planned privatization of VOA, or rather establishing a non-profit funded by the government and overseen by a bipartisan board of trustees nominated by President and confirmed by the Senate with a CEO running day to day operations (paid at a market rate, by the way, and not on a government payscale). Throughout 1946 and into early 1947, this was a greater priority to the State Department than the paired (yes, paired) legislation to authorize US international information programs and exchanges (which came to be known as the Smith-Mundt Act). There are a lot of untold stories, and even more false or improperly told stories, around this legislation. Now if I would only make the time – along with writing a PhD – to finish my book on this.
Yes, I spotted that prior longer post and saved for later reading. Except a glance to assure it would interest and inform me, I still haven't gotten around to it (or footnote #4). I don't see that privatizing VOA will work well (same goes for proposals to privatize the VA too). Meanwhile, I do hope you find the time to finish.
Matt: It's been years since our last contact, but we have tried to make similar points, as in David Ronfeldt and John Arquilla, Whose Story Wins: Rise of the Noosphere, Noopolitik, and Information-Age Statecraft, RAND Corporation, PE-A237-1, July 2020.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA237-1.html
Thank you for the note. It has been a while. Is Chez Jay still around? Thank you also for pointing out your RAND report.
Yes, Chez Jay still stands. For decades we had a RAND group that met their every Thursday—one of my favorite routines. But we stopped when Covid took hold, and I/we have not been back since, sadly for me. BTW, there are two follow-ups if the RAND report interests you (with apology if I'm cluttering your site):
"Rethinking Strategy and Statecraft for the Information Age: Rise of the Noosphere and Noopolitik"
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3910628
“Geopolitics,Noopolitics, and the Fight for Ukraine”
https://humanenergy.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Ronfeldt-Addendum.pdf
Onward.
I had dinner at Chez Jay a couple of weeks ago. Before the pandemic I was a lunch time regular. But the pandemic really hurt their business and they are now open only for dinner. If you are ever in Santa Monica for dinner, I highly recommend it.
A delight to hear from you too, Rand. It's been a few years. Ah, Chez Jays: Over the decades, I like to believe I have eaten more lunches there than any other RAND researcher. When I started at RAND in the 70s, it was like a tradition, even a ritual, to take a new staff member to lunch there for the first time. Now, perhaps mainly because we moved to a new building about a block away, the latest generations of researchers barely know Chez Jay's exists and have never eaten there. Or so I gather. While I doubt I'll ever get up there again, I do hope to verify someday whether a small framed card signed by a bunch of us who used to lunch there every Thursday for years (decades?) is still hanging on the wall above Table 10. Those were the days....
Also, Rand, are you still working on cognitive security? Any update on that?
The last time I was there was to meet with David Ronfeldt closer to the turn of the century than now. It would be to revisit. This makes me think of the HMS Bounty bar that was across from the Ambassador Hotel. I’d eat lunch there with coworkers (I worked a block or two away) and it was like entering nighttime in the 1960s to have the baseball steak whenever passing through the door. That was years before the turn of the century!