Sept Director’s Cut
Col. Bryan Salas
The Director’s Cut: DivPA’s Monthly Newsletter to the Marine Corps’ PA Community is now online you can download it here
Marines –
The in-box is a tyrannical master from which short-fused tasks, fires, and crises constantly dominate our time. Now is the perfect opportunity to pause and evaluate your long-range strategy for a variety of topics: the strategic goals of your office, your professional goals, and your personal and family long-range plans.
For Headquarters Marine Corps, our “Public Affairs Roadmap 2025” is our strategic vision for our field. Please reread it when developing the strategy for your program. Paragraph 4.3 discusses “Strategic Planning.” Below is my “problem framing” to get you started:
• The national debt is the number one threat to America’s national security. If affects a wide range of things from domestic economics to international diplomacy. Senior civilian leaders will make hard decisions about risk to national security. We must ensure their decisions are well informed as to the value of the Corps to the Nation and how critical we are to our national security.
• The purpose is to present the Corps’ agenda to key decision makers, from elected officials to media personalities, through a coordinated and comprehensive campaign, from which results a common and well-informed understanding of our key programs.
The Corps is currently examining its organization to ensure it is able to tackle future challenges through an effort called the “Force Structure Review Group.” The FSRG will determine the future structure of the Corps to include its public affairs capability. This is important to you as it will shape our future organization and manning. Below are the key points to communicate when discussing PA capability to your leadership. Direct any questions to the Plans Branch.
• PA manpower has decreased since the Cold War despite an increasingly demanding and changing communication environment
– New technology: Cable, Internet, Social Media, Mobile
– New behavior: 24-hour news, citizen journalism, networked communication
• PA lacks manpower to compete in this complex environment
• PA growth necessary to:
– Participate as full partner in the operational environment
• Build support for mission, counter adversary propaganda
– Communicate USMC’s value, unique contributions to Nation
• Build understanding & support for required resources
Shifting from the daily focus on the in-box to a parallel view of the strategy, helps transform you from a trained PA practitioner to an educated communication professional.
Semper Fidelis!
Colonel Bryan Salas