Contributing to Military Public Affairs

DINFOS

In 2019, I was contracted to the U.S. Department of Defenses' Information School (DINFOS), where military communication professionals are formally trained in Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. DINFOS trains U.S. military, Department of Defense (DoD) civilians, international military, and interagency students in various subject areas, including public affairs. Graduates of DINFOS commonly participate in joint missions that are often "in support of, or in conjunction with, other military forces, the federal government agencies, first responders, and community organizations."

At the time, the institution was heavily focused on the practical instruction of newspaper interviews, news release writing, and grammar. To help remedy this, I began voraciously researching, along with others on the elite team of senior instructors, more strategic communications befitting military communication needs. Drawing from my diverse background, I derived best practices from business and academia to incorporate into military communications training. This included secondary research into the clear and present danger of information disorder (disinformation and malformation). My research was accepted and became a vital part of the advanced courses that I taught. To enable other courses to benefit from my research, I formed working groups across the directorate to empower others to incorporate it into their curriculum. My efforts resulted in me being a relied-upon resident subject matter expert.?The informal recognition also led to me being featured on a DINFOS Live program and a speaker for its Social Media Forum.

As military doctrine evolved, I continued to go above and beyond my role as an instructor with research and recommendations for DINFOS. Additional research for internal DOD distribution focused on Effectively Evaluating and Assessing Narrative in Military Public Affairs. This research was aligned with the pre-decisional discussion of Joint Public 3-04 Information in Joint Operations, which noted the importance of strategic narrative. JP 3-04, now released, acknowledges empirical evidence that a compelling narrative can be transformational and induce long-term effects on public attitudes, behavioral intentions, and actions.?

Beyond DINFOS

I began to expand my knowledge to other communicators, military and otherwise, by lecturing and training outside of DINFOS to the National Association of Government Communicators, Social Media Breakfast Forum of Houston, 21st Signal Brigade, U.S. Navy MCC Symposium, West Virginia University Integrate Conference, and more. I also began publishing articles in the national Public Relations Society of America's official newspaper, Strategies and Tactics.??????????????????????? ??????????

Additionally, I leveraged my membership in the National Press Club to host a candid conversation on combatting disinformation with a panel I curated from DINFOS, the National Security Agency, and the Department of State. I posed the questions in discussion with the agency representatives on how public diplomacy, military, and Intelligence Community communicators are navigating increasingly complex information environments saturated with disinformation, which has infiltrated nearly every aspect of society.

Finally, I joined West Virginia University as an adjunct. WVU has a memorandum of understanding with DINFOS to offer credit for students and faculty seeking a master's degree. Noting the curriculum was not bespoke to military communicators, I researched and developed a wholly overhauled course for that cohort.

Textbook Chapter

My research and presentations culminated in the publication of a chapter in a graduate school-level communications textbook -- Intercultural Public Relations, Chapter 7, Enhancing the Global Mindset in Military Public Affairs, Routledge.

The chapter featured a problem-solving model I co-developed for military communicators to use in a complex information environment. The problem-solving model was conceptualized and developed to be an interdisciplinary educational tool woven into the curriculum to elevate the strategic communication thought of military communicators by synthesizing best practices derived from social exchange theory and aspects of complex adaptive systems thinking, cynefin framework, wicked solutions, strategic foresight, social network analysis, and dyadic relationships.

Results

The results included:

-?????????A published chapter in a textbook

-?????????Numerous conferences and articles for nonmilitary communicators

-?????????A university course with a focus on military communicators

-?????????All DINFOS PACS curricula teaching Information Disorder and other theoretical-based strategic communications

Most significantly, I had the privilege of training more than 200 of our country's public affairs officers and communication strategists.

Vision for Change

All of these efforts aligned with my vision for change, which was straightforward. I committed to contributing to our national security by researching, identifying, and training on communication strategies to combat information disorder from nefarious state actors and train the fleet and field in more strategic, contemporary communications practices to succeed in their missions. ?

Karen Naumann, APR served as a contracted Senior Instructor in the Public Affairs & Communication Directorate at DINFOS from 2019 - 2022.