ABSTRACT
The development of strategic communications in the United States has taken place in conjunction with a long history of foreign interventions. Its rise in various government agencies is interwoven
with these developments. This article traces the rise and fall of strategic communications in the United States government, from its emergence in the years leading up to 9/11, through debates on the definition of the concept during conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, ending in its current stasis. Any chronology of strategic communications in the United States government leaves us with more questions than answers.
Keywords—strategic communications, strategic communication, United States, United Nations, Foreign Policy, Public Diplomacy, 9/11, Counterinsurgency, Afghanistan, Iraq.
About the Author
Dr Jente Althuis specialises in space, architecture, and urban conflict in strategic communications. She has researched at the Africa Programme at Chatham House and the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence. She works at the King’s Centre for Strategic Communications.
