Earlier today, I watched a story on CNN’s The Situation Room about last week’s presidential debate. The journalist reporting the story spoke about how the candidates were asked a question about Iran and if they were president what would they do about the threat Iran posed. Candidates Huntsman and Gingrich agreed that “covert” actions should be taken by the U.S. government to stop Iran’s pursuit of a nuke. After the story, the reporter went back to Wolf Bilitzer in the Situation Room where there were several political pundits waiting to offer their insight on the subject. One of the pundits, who happened to also be a representative from the American Enterprise Institute, vehemently expressed her disapproval of the candidates’ decision to talk about the details of a possible military operation. From her perspective the candidates ‘loose lips’ on television, posed a threat to national security. She is concerned that Iranian officials are watching CNN and may use the candidates’ commentary to evade U.S. military action.
It is no surprise that the intelligence community is concerned about the role that mass media plays in informing the enemy. Because information and communication technologies enable messages to be disseminated rapidly to other countries, it is necessary for elected officials-and those aspiring toward office- to ensure that their messages reflect the best security interests of the United States. When Osama Bin Laden was captured for example, images of him were leaked that showed him in front of a TV watching an American news program. Whether or not Bin Laden used international media to get tips on how to avoid military detection in past years, has yet to be determined.
One thing is clear: Mass media should be used responsibly and messages that are delivered through this medium by current and future elected officials (as well as other opinion leaders) should be closely monitored for they may pose a threat to national security.
Chantel:
ReplyDeleteI find great interest in your post. Not only do I think that public officials should speak responsibly on national television, but I think they should be even more careful when it comes to social media.
Often times, elected officials use Twitter to keep their constituents informed. However, because the social media channel is so informal, the words tweeted may not always be carefully communicated. It is the responsibility of the press staff to manage this flow of information and to make sure that accurate messages are being sent out.
Twitter must be carefully monitored as a method to protect and preserve national security.