News from USJFCOM: New "JPASE" sets the pace for joint military public affairs

Pakistan relief image 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."