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The Pentagon military analyst program was a propaganda campaign of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) that was launched in early 2002 by then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke. The goal of the operation is "to spread the administrations's talking points on Iraq by briefing retired commanders for network and cable television appearances," where they have been presented as independent analysts; Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Pentagon's intent is to keep the American people informed about the so-called War on Terrorism by providing prominent military analysts with factual information and frequent, direct access to key military officials. The ''Times'' article suggests that the analysts had undisclosed financial conflicts of interest and were given special access as a reward for promoting the administration's point of view. On 28 April 2008, the Pentagon ended the operation. A DoD Inspector General investigation found no wrongdoing on the part of the DoD. ==New York Times exposé== Details of the operation were first revealed in a lengthy ''New York Times'' exposé written by David Barstow and published in April 2008.〔 Within the documents the analysts were referred to as message force multipliers (q.v. force multiplication). A number of the military analysts used by US television have extensive business interests in promoting the administration's views as employees of, or investors in, various military contractors or as lobbyists for such contractors; however, viewers have not been made aware of such ties.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=NYT Report: Pentagon Used TV Military Analysts to Get Favorable Coverage of Iraq War )〕 Peace activist Colman McCarthy had warned of the potential conflicts of interest many of the same analysts had in a ''Washington Post'' op-ed in April 2003. The analysts were given access to hundreds of private briefings with senior military leaders, including officials with significant influence over budget and contracting matters, taken on official tours to Iraq, and given access to classified intelligence.〔 Some participants claimed that they were instructed not to quote their briefers directly or otherwise describe their contacts with the Pentagon.〔 The ''Times'' article states that: "Some analysts stated that in later interviews that they echoed the Pentagon's talking points, even when they suspected the information was false or inflated."〔 Robert S. Bevelacqua, a critic of the Bush administration, retired Green Beret and former Fox News analyst said, "It was them saying, 'We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you.", although Bevelacqua himself opposed the War in Iraq during the time he claims to have been briefed by Pentagon officials.〔Corn, David. "(Fox News' Occupation Critic )". ''The Nation''. December 3, 2003.〕 Bevelacqua left Fox in April 2005 due to his dissatisfaction with Fox's coverage of the war. According to the DoD, from 2002 to 2008, the program held 147 events for 74 military analysts, including 22 meetings at the Pentagon, 114 conference calls with generals and senior Pentagon officials and 11 DoD-sponsored trips to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Donald Rumsfeld was personally involved with 20 of the events. During that time, four analysts were removed from the program's invitation list for, reportedly, making public remarks critical of the DoD. Forty-three of the analysts involved in the program were employed by or affiliated with defense contractors which were doing or seeking to obtain contracts from the DoD.〔Barstow, David, "Pentagon Finds No Fault In Ties To TV Analysts", ''New York Times'', 25 December 2011, p. 20.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pentagon military analyst program」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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