US losing on battlefield to China, Russia in strategic communications: Gates

Former Pentagon chief Robert Gates says the US is lagging behind China and Russia, with the pair having more advanced strategic communications and engagement capabilities to disseminate information compared with those of Washington.

In an op-ed published in The Washington Post on Sunday, Gates noted that the United States “seriously neglected” strategic communications as one of the non-military instruments of power.

“Strategic communications and engagement with foreign publics and leaders are essential to shaping the global political environment in ways that support and advance American national interests. In this crucial arena of the competition, however, Russia and China are running rings around us,” he wrote.

The former Pentagon chief also said that the US “dismantled” its strategic communications implementation after the Cold War.

“The US Information Agency, our primary instrument to engage foreign publics throughout the Cold War, with a presence in 150 countries, was eliminated in 1999. Parts of it were parceled out to the State Department, and most of our know-how and key structures for engaging foreign publics were left to atrophy,” he explained.

“US strategic communications and public diplomacy are fragmented among 14 agencies and 48 commissions. Yet, the State Department, which ought to be driving this train, lacks not just necessary resources in dollars and people but also, importantly, the authority to coordinate, integrate and synchronize these disparate and unfocused efforts. Further, there is no government-wide international communications and engagement strategy, and certainly no sense of urgency.”

The US invented public relations, but it is now being “out-communicated” around the world by Russia and China, Gates added.

He urged the White House and State Department to develop a global engagement plan to advance Washington’s national security interests. 

He further pointed out that China – unlike the US – has taken a far more comprehensive approach to strategic communications and foreign influence building a modern media apparatus aimed at domestic and world audiences.

“China’s Xinhua News Agency has nearly 180 bureaus globally (and there is not a single country on the planet that is not reached by one or more Chinese radio, television or online outlets). Chinese companies buy stakes in domestic media outlets in numerous countries, especially in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia. Chinese TV and radio broadcasts, websites and publications are readily available in the United States, but there is no reciprocity in China. More than 500 Confucius Institutes, ostensibly established to promote Chinese language and culture, spread China’s message around the world. The scale of the overall endeavor — and multiple mechanisms used — is without parallel,” he said.

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