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 New "JPASE" sets
the pace for joint military public affairs
A still-developing group of joint public affairs professionals
have helped to bring a
constant flow of timely, accurate information from combatant
commanders to news organizations that set up camp wherever
American forces operate.
By Air Force Maj. Don Langley
Joint Public Affairs Support Element
(SUFFOLK, Va. - Jan. 18. 2006) -- U.S. Joint Forces Command
has surged and deployed a developing capability three times
during the last five months to support the public affairs
needs of joint warfighters providing relief and recovery
in the wake of natural disasters in Louisiana and Pakistan.
The
Joint Public Affairs Support Element (JPASE) supported
joint task force commanders dealing with the aftermaths
of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita as well as October's earthquake in Pakistan.
As part of its deployment functions, JPASE provides a
constant flow of timely, accurate information from combatant
commanders to news organizations that set up camp wherever
American forces operate.
The speed of the Internet, cable news and other media
all contribute to rapid shaping of public opinion of military
operations. Armed forces public affairs personnel and their
communication skills are indispensable to meeting this
challenging information environment, according to military
leaders.
Preventing misinformation and setting up media access
while initial public impressions are forming has been a
formidable challenge for the Department of Defense, until
now, according to JPASE Director Army Col. Steve Campbell.
In the past, public affairs planning largely involved
pulling together individual practitioners from around DoD-an
approach that consistently lengthened the spin-up time
for a new operation.
The new JPASE concept provides a scalable cadre of experienced
senior public affairs officers and non-commissioned officers,
who are familiar with the various agencies in a joint operating
area and provide media a full perspective of the operation
in progress, said the colonel.
JPASE offers a standing team that continually trains and
operates together, much like another USJFCOM capability,
the Standing Joint Force
Headquarters (Core Element).
"Having a seasoned team on call provides a unit that
can immediately build and manage a task force's PA processes
while the combatant command evaluates the long-term outlook
for the operation," said Campbell. "JPASE can
then turn over a functioning public affairs apparatus to
follow-on forces, and redeploy home to be ready as an initial
responder for other potential contingencies."
Although the team was not supposed to reach initial operational
capability until April 2006, the hurricane and earthquake
provided some early field trials of the JPASE concept.
U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) was the first to request
JPASE assistance, when DoD supported the Federal Emergency
Management Agency as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the
U.S. Gulf Coast in August and September 2005. Members of
the organization assisted both the USNORTHCOM headquarters
PA staff and the forward Army elements serving in the affected
regions.
"A significant amount of media attention was focused
on U.S. Northern Command during Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita," said Michael B. Perini, public affairs director
for USNORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense
Command (NORAD). "The JPASE members were critical
to the execution of our overall public affairs strategy
during those contingency operations. Their support of PA
operations directly and positively impacted the overall
favorable image that the federal military response received
from the public and the media."
After two months of operations in the United States, JPASE
dispatched seven personnel to yet another mission when
a 7.6 magnitude earthquake leveled parts of northern Pakistan
and India on Oct. 8, drawing immediate U.S. relief assistance.
The contingent worked directly with the many agencies operating
in the relief area to coordinate and streamline the flow
of information.
"It
was very apparent early on that we needed a full-time
liaison at the U.S. embassy to coordinate with their public
diplomacy staff and to ensure we were on the same page," said
JPASE's Navy Capt. Rob Newell, who served for three months
as the public affairs officer to Navy Rear Adm. Michael
LeFever, commander of the Disaster Assistance Center, Pakistan.
"We
also relied on the embassy's PD staff to send out news
releases, help us pitch story ideas to local media through
the Pakistani foreign nationals on their staff and provide
us with daily media summaries of both the English- and
Urdu-language newspapers. As soon as the U.S. established
a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Muzaffarabad, it was
obvious a PAO was needed there as well to respond to heavy
media interest in their presence."
The team ensured local and international understanding
of the extent of U.S. aid through media embed flights on
military relief helicopters and interviews with key leaders
and personnel working in the operation.
As one measure of success, the effort to provide information
contributed to favorable changes in attitudes toward the
U.S., according to data from A.C. Neilson polls conducted
in Pakistan before and after the earthquake.
JPASE is more than a rapid public affairs response capability,
however. The organization is also charged with development
and refinement of joint doctrine and DoD policy for PA
operations. This includes working with USJFCOM's Joint
Warfighting Center and its training program to help prepare
joint task force commanders and their staffs for deployments
around the world.
"The world of news and information is constantly
evolving at a rapid pace," said Air Force Col. Donna
Pastor, one of JPASE's two training team chiefs.
"Not
only do we have to ensure our public affairs professionals
are trained and equipped to keep in step, but we have to
help our field leadership understand how our activities
affect and are affected by joint force operations. By providing
training support, we aid combatant commands with effective
operational planning, and help prepare units that are about
to rotate into theater where they will be confronted with
the challenges of today's global information environment."
"The beauty of JPASE is we now have an organization
that provides rapid combat capability in a way that also
allows us to take current field experience and translate
it into improved tactics, techniques, procedures and training
for the next operation," said Campbell.
"The
intersection of our mobility, proponency and training functions
will help ensure DoD keeps up with the information demands
of an interconnected world."
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