Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) Thursday sent a letter asking Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to suspend further contracts that would pay civilian contractors $300 million to produce pro-American news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements inside Iraq pending a full review by the Senate Armed Services Committee and a new presidential Administration.

Earlier this year, Webb raised questions with Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen regarding the use of "general appropriations accounts" that circumvent routine congressional scrutiny and award lucrative contracts to companies performing quasi-military functions such as Blackwater. Citing such concerns, his letter maintained that the recently announced "strategic information" contracts, reported in the Washington Post October 3, brought "serious reservations about the need for this expenditure in today's political and economic climate."

"At a time when this country is facing such a grave economic crisis, and at a time when the government of Iraq now shows at least a $79-billion surplus from recent oil revenues, it makes little sense for the Department of Defense to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars to propagandize the Iraqi people," says Webb. He adds the Iraqi government "is capable, both politically and financially, of communicating with its own people ... without being accused by adversaries of being a foreign government that is fulminating internal conditions through propaganda."

In the letter, Webb reminded Gates that as a result of their earlier correspondence regarding Blackwater, “It was made clear to me that you and Adm. Mullen were committed to examining the entire range of issues involved in civilian contractor services.” He also cautioned that "military contracts for information operations have skyrocketed since 2003, dwarfing the Department of State’s funding," and that he and other Americans "remain concerned about the reality in the globally connected Information Age that propaganda ostensibly directed at target audiences overseas will also be eventually disseminated to the U.S. public."

Webb sent a second letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin requesting hearings at the start of the new Congress for the full Committee to address the scope, reach, and desirability of the Defense Department’s steady growth in expenditures for strategic communications programs and the corresponding increase in the use of civilian contractors to support them.

Copies of the letters to Secretary Gates and Chairman Levin follow:

October 9, 2008

The Honorable Robert M. Gates
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301

Dear Secretary Gates:

You will recall our exchange of correspondence beginning May 21, 2008 regarding Department of Defense contracts for non-military services, and our subsequent discussions on that matter. At immediate issue was a contract for Blackwater to perform training functions for active duty Navy personnel in a facility near San Diego, California. But the strong focus of my concerns related to how taxpayer dollars are funded for a wide range of civilian contracts, including whether the Congress specifically authorized and/or appropriated such funding.

With respect to the Blackwater contracts in question, it was clear that the contracts, which amounted to tens of millions of dollars, were let under a general appropriation (O & M account), and that the decision to let these contracts was made at a relatively low level within the Department of the Navy, without review even by the Secretary of the Navy. In other words, the contracts were entered into without specific coordination with, or approval of, the Congress and without review at the highest levels even of the Navy Department, based on a generalized determination of the “needs of the fleet” made by a relatively low-level civilian.

During our discussions, and during follow-on discussions between myself and Admiral Mullen, it was made clear to me that you and he were committed to examining the entire range of issues involved in civilian contractor services.

With that in mind, I was surprised to read in the October 3 edition of the Washington Post that DOD plans to pay U.S. private contractors $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs, and public-service advertisements for the Iraqi media. The purpose of this effort would be to persuade the local population to support U.S. objectives in Iraq, and also to increase support for the Iraqi government.

I feel compelled to raise the same concerns as in our earlier correspondence. In addition, I have serious reservations about the need for this expenditure in today’s political and economic environment. Consequently, I am asking that you put these contracts on hold until the Armed Services Committee and the next Administration can review the entire issue of U.S. propaganda efforts inside Iraq.

At a time when this country is facing such a grave economic crisis, and at a time when the government of Iraq now shows at least a $79 billion surplus from recent oil revenues, in my view it makes little sense for the U.S. Department of Defense to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars to propagandize the Iraqi people. There is now an elected government in Iraq, which is recognized to have the power and authority to negotiate a long-term security agreement with the government of the United States. Clearly that government is capable, both politically and financially, of communicating with its own people in the manner now contemplated by these DOD contracts – and without being accused by adversaries of being a foreign government that is fulminating internal conditions through propaganda.

With respect to cost, I am also aware that military contracts for information operations have skyrocketed since 2003, dwarfing the Department of State’s funding of $5.6 million for public-diplomacy programs in Iraq next year. This momentum clearly calls for restraint from the top levels of DOD, and for oversight here in the Congress. In this regard, provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (S.3001) require the Secretary of Defense and the President to submit individual reports to Congress on strategic communication and public diplomacy activities not later than December 31, 2009. The reporting requirements recognize the need for a comprehensive interagency strategy. The contracts being let seem to fly in the face of this clear statement of congressional concern.

Finally, I and many other Americans remain concerned about the reality in the globally connected Information Age that propaganda ostensibly directed at target audiences overseas will also be eventually disseminated to the U.S. public. Numerous laws prohibit the use of any funds by the Department of Defense for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States that are not otherwise specifically authorized by law. This legal distinction may well be blurred, however, by DOD’s growing reliance on electronic media in all categories of DOD’s information activities owing to the speed, international reach, and pervasive nature of such communications.

For all of these reasons, I am asking that no funds be expended on the new contracts described in the Washington Post until such time as the Senate Committee on Armed Services has the opportunity to review them, as well as the underlying issues arguing for and against their need.

I continue to respect the “steady hand” that you have brought to the rudder at DOD, and look forward to hearing your thoughts on these matters.

Sincerely,

Jim Webb
United States Senator

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CC: The Honorable Carl Levin, Senate Committee on Armed Services

October 9, 2008

The Honorable Carl Levin

Chairman
Committee on Armed Services
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510-6050

Dear Mr. Chairman:

As you and the Committee staff plan next year’s hearings, I wish to request that at the beginning of the new Congress the full Committee address the scope, reach, and desirability of the Department of Defense’s steady growth in its expenditures for strategic communications programs and the corresponding increase in the use of civilian contractors to support them.

On October 3, the Washington Post published an article reporting that the Department of Defense will pay private contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs, and public-service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to persuade the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.

I have enclosed for your information a copy of my letter to Secretary of Defense Gates in which I voice my concerns over the latest DOD contracts and request that no funds be expended on them until the full Committee has the opportunity to review them. Beyond my specific concerns with the contracts publicized by the Post, there are broader, more serious issues that I believe should command the Committee’s attention next year, all of which are outlined in my letter.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Jim Webb
United States Senator