Kenneth Allard

From SourceWatch

Carl Kenneth Allard was a member of the Pentagon military analyst program, was an NBC military analyst and taught information warfare at the National Defense University. Allard, according to the New York Times, "said the campaign amounted to a sophisticated information operation. 'This was a coherent, active policy.' ... As conditions in Iraq deteriorated, Mr. Allard recalled, he saw a yawning gap between what analysts were told in private briefings and what subsequent inquiries and books later revealed. 'Night and day,' Mr. Allard said, 'I felt we’d been hosed.'

The Pentagon's military analyst program

In April 2008 documents obtained by New York Times reporter David Barstow revealed that Allard had been recruited as one of over 75 retired military officers involved in the Pentagon military analyst program. Participants appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts, and/or penned newspaper op/ed columns. The program was launched in early 2002 by then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke. The idea was to recruit "key influentials" to help sell a wary public on "a possible Iraq invasion." ^[1]

Lobbying

The U.S. Senate Office of Public Records lists Allard on the following lobbying contracts: ^[2]

• With the firm Potomac Strategies International, for the client GTE Government Systems; the registration was filed in 1999 and terminated in 2003, with no work actually reported on the contract.
• With Potomac Strategies, for the client Orbital Sciences Corporation, Fairchild Defense Divison; the registration was filed in 1999 and terminated in 2003, with no work actually reported on the contract.

Book

In 2006, Allard wrote a book about his experiences as a TV military analyst, called 'Warheads: Cable News and the Fog of War.' ^[3]

SourceWatch resources

• Covert propaganda
• Donald H. Rumsfeld
• Psyops
• U.S. Department of Defense
• Victoria Clarke

External links

References

1. ↑ David Barstow, "Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand," New York Times, April 20, 2008.
2. ↑ Senate Office of Public Records online database, accessed April 2008.
3. ↑ Allard, Kenneth (2006). Warheads: Cable News and the Fog of War. City: US Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1591140072. 

Articles

• Matthew Sheffield, "NBC Military Analyst Quits Network, Citing Left-wing Bias," NewsBusters, February 15, 2007.