STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONSAND THE STRATCOM COE

DR. ANTTI SILLANPÄÄ (FINLAND)

• NATO StratCom Centre of Excellence in Riga• Strategic Communications (StratCom), Narratives• Challenges

Agenda

NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence

• Established by Latvia on 1 January 2014 • Accredited by NATO on 1 September 2014• Member nations:

• Estonia• Germany• UK• Italy • Latvia• Lithuania• Poland

• Finland, the US and the Netherlands

Life in the Nordics is good!

• More trust + honesty + transparency -> efficient + kinder society

«You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time»

StratCom of open and free societies

• Adm. Michael Mullen “.... The civil servants and military must be held accountable on what they do, and what they fail to do. As transparency is ingrained in open and free societies, it should not be compromised. “

• “ When they [e.g. adversaries] find a “say-do” gap—such as Abu Ghraib—they drive a truck right through it. So should we, quite frankly. We must be vigilant about holding ourselves accountable to higher standards of conduct and closing any gaps, real or perceived, between what we say about ourselves and what we do to back it up.”

StratCom of a weaker side

• Losing credibility is not a problem for a weaker side

Our bestunderstanding of truth

«Second opinion»

• Truth might be known or hidden, but it is always non-negotiable

• Putin and his logical turns

«Polite people», «Little Green Men»

NATO Strategic Communication

• The coordinated and appropriate use of NATO communications activities and capabilities – Public Diplomacy, Public Affairs (PA), Military Public Affairs, Information Operations (Info Ops) and Psychological Operations (PSYOPS), as appropriate – in support of Alliance policies, operations and activities, and in order to advance NATO’s aims

NATO Strategic Communication Policy PO (2009) 0141, dated 29 Sep 09

• The aim of NATO Strategic Communications is to ensure that NATO's audiences, whether in the Nations or in a region where a NATO operation is taking place, either friendly or adversarial, receives truthful, accurate and timely information that will allow them to understand and assess the Alliance's actions and intentions. This will deter aggression and promote NATO's aims and objectives.

Military Concept for NATO Strategic communications, dated 12 Aug 10

Strategic Communications – what do you need?

• integral part of any political and/or military decision-making process• leadership driven process, focussed on enhancing the ability to articulate

the narratives, themes and messages to the target audiences• mind-set that information can be used to achieve political and military

objectives• coordination of information disciplines to achieve the desired objectives

Narrative tree

• The statement of identity, cause and intent, around which people can unite

• Derived from values, having vital themes as branches.

• Optimal place to nurture messages, fed by thecurrent events

NATO StratCom and narrative

NATO is a democratic, multinational alliance uniting across borders to guard, with courage and competence, against threats to our homes

Challenges and how to deal with them

• How to react and fact-check opposing narratives and lies efficiently?• MEDIA ECONOMICS?• MEDIA LITERACY, NEGLECTING LIARS

• How much better are we?• SUPPORTING WORDS WITH ACTIONS • FROM THE POLITICAL DOWN TO TACTICAL LEVEL

• Should the emphasis be on the our own positive, fact-based, coherent, consistent, forward-looking narratives

• WHAT IS THE NARRATIVE OF SWEDEN?

name.surname@stratcomcoe.org00 371 67335467

www.stratcomcoe.org

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