Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
White Paper
By
Aruna Kulatunga & iMeetingpoint Pty. Ltd.
Melbourne, Australia
Information and Public Affairs White Paper for Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka
Introduction
In modern governance where freedom of information is guaranteed by leg-
islation while privacy of the individual is somewhat paradoxically considered
paramount, affairs concerning the general public, (Public Affairs) take on a
form of complexity hitherto little understood in the government service, other
than in high level political propaganda exercises.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has become a focal point in terms of han-
dling the public affairs component of its many responsibilities, in a scenario
fraught with fragility and even more complexity of waging peace and keeping
peace.
While the Peace Secretariat should be the primary driver of the information
flow regarding the peace initiative, the MoD is being drawn into situations
where credibility and timeliness of information provided to the public through
the media, the access and control of such information and the correct flow of
the information itself has taken on critical proportions. Such instances can af-
fect the peace negotiations and the very important opinion formation process
of the public.
In normal circumstances, when there is no conflict and “crisis” is considered
only on ad-hoc basis, information management and the provision of informa-
tion to both internal and external stakeholders including the public and the
media, is demoted in the list of priorities. In conflict circumstances, this is
revised.
In a situation where a country is coming out of conflict, but where inappro-
priate or non-credible information can damage the processes that are involved
in boot-strapping conflict resolution, it becomes imperative that information
management under a comprehensive and coherent public affairs policy is rap-
idly implemented, if not already in place.
In order to help achieve the objective of implementing such a policy for
the Ministry of Defence, research was carried out utilising available resources
including existing diplomatic and defence linkages, of the Public Affairs poli-
cies and infrastructures of the Defence and defence related organisations in
the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Republic of Macedonia,
India and Pakistan.
In each of these countries, there exists a central department within the
Ministry of Defence (or its equivalent) covering public affairs and information,
providing an umbrella cover for all the organisations that come under each
Ministry of Defence. In each of the organisations studied, it was noted that
the Ministry supersedes the military organisations in terms of public affairs
functions and responsibilities, with very high priority given to the relationship
between the Ministry personnel and the military personnel and within the mili-
Proposal
In order to achieve a streamlined, effective, comprehensive and coherent
public affairs and information policy for the Ministry of Defence, it is proposed
that a new unit within MoD, provisionally named as Directorate of Information
& Public Affairs (DIPA) is immediately established.
The unit will be headed by a professional with at least 15 years of experience
in Public Affairs, including at least 5 years of experience in senior management
positions, either in the public sector or the private sector.
It will initially consist of six other senior staff, including a Deputy Director,
who would be from the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (or the Sri Lanka
Foreign Service) with at least some experience in Public Affairs, three assistant
directors who will be attached to the Unit from the Armed Forces and would be
of the seniority of Lt. Colonel or above, a senior operative from the Directorate
of Internal Intelligence or its current equivalent and a senior operative from the
Directorate of External Intelligence or its current equivalent.
General administrative staff and a librarian will support the unit.
The general policies, functions, role and operating procedure for Director
and by extension of the Directorate are enumerated in Annexure 1. Some
emphasise is laid on the provision and enhancement of Combat Camera (or
COMCAM) operations, due to recent operational “incidents” and the heavy
reliance of COMCAM by other agencies.
Linkages to other agencies are specifically left out of this report due to con-
tingencies of confidentiality.
Background
In 1997, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tasked former Director of Information
at the Ministry, Mr. Ravinatha Aryasinghe to come up with a comprehensive
plan to revamp the information management structure of the Ministry, supply
and management of information to external (foreign) sources and the resourc-
es available to achieve a comprehensive counter-propaganda campaign.
At Mr. Aryasinghe’s request, two reports were submitted by myself in my
capacity as a corporate communications executive to look at information man-
agement in times of crisis and to provide a coherent external “web window”
bringing together all of the government’s resources in one external portal with
internal linkages. Subsequent to submitting these reports, a “web window”
was launched under the url: www.lk following a number of meetings held at
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where all government agencies that have an ex-
ternal linkages participated (including the Ministry of Defence – represented
by then additional secretary W.A.Silva) under my general guidance. However,
the project came to a standstill following CINTEC insistence on control and
my departure as counsellor (information) to the UK High Commission. I am
happy to see that subsequently Policy Research & Information Unit (PRIU) of
the Presidential Secretariat created a series of sites under its umbrella and also
initiated the .gov.lk campaign, which was one of the initial suggestions made
in my report.
Some of the ideas enumerated below is from the first report with additional
material gathered in the past two weeks from the US Department of Defence
(US DoD) and the UK Ministry of Defence (UK MoD). Sections 1 to 8 in annexe
1, setting out the policies, responsibilities etc of a new functionary role of a
Director (Information and Public Affairs) in the Ministry of Defence is some-
what a direct adaptation from US DoD Public Affairs directives and policies as
currently set out and Annexure 2 detailing a Code of Practise on access to MoD
information is an adaptation of work done for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and the current Code of Practise for access to government information in the
UK.
In times of severe stress or crisis it is important that the public are provided
with fast, clear and complete information from authorities and the media. In
extreme circumstances, this may be a question of sustaining faith in a demo-
cratic society. Authorities that act openly and keep citizens well informed are
better equipped for dealing with the situations that can arise in times of severe
stress or strife.
The relationship between the public, the authorities and the media is stud-
ied and research has shown that the more openness and better relations that
exist when dealing with a crisis, the more credibility is gained. The concept
of information preparedness can be seen as a reflection of the importance of
information when serious events are unfolding. Such preparedness requires
technical resources as well as human skills and endurance.
The concept of information preparedness relates to how well those respon-
sible for the dissemination of information are prepared to meet the demands
for information and communication in the event of a serious crisis or emergen-
cy. It is a question of the extent to which an organisation understands, and can
satisfy, the needs for communication with the media and general public before,
during and after a period of serious stress, for example, and of the adequacy
and sustainability of the technical resources that are available for information
purposes.
The general definition of information preparedness is:
• A public agency’s capability for informing the media and citizens
in times of accidents, disasters, crises and war.
The main characteristics of a crisis are that it is unexpected, connected with
risks or threats, creates uncertainty and insecurity, there is very little time and
there is great pressure to act. Pressure from the media and the public is enor-
mous.
The importance of readiness and speed when starting up an information
organisation in a crisis, in order to avoid dealing with an information vacuum
is also critical. Most research and experience shows that information in a crisis
makes up about70-80% of crisis management. Information forms the basis for
decisions, and if a management does not have access to correct, fast and rele-
vant information, it cannot make correct, fast or relevant decisions. All of these
activities are aimed at gaining the public’s trust in how crises are handled.
Building trust in crisis management is based on four areas;
• competence when dealing with a crisis;
• total openness with all information, not just the good news but
Page 7 of 36 Prepared 1 April 2003 (A.Kulatunga). Confidential
Information and Public Affairs White Paper for Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka
outputs.
Implementation of The Defence Information Strategy will not be cost neu-
tral. There will be some need to invest in order to exploit the information and
co-evolution opportunities and to meet the objectives
At the very least existing programmes, whether Short Term Plan (STP) or
Equipment Programme (EP) funded, will need to be adjusted to achieve the
greater level of coherence needed to make progress along the lines of action.
Some programmes and capabilities will need to be managed centrally, requir-
ing the re-brigading of STP, EP resources and a consequential impact on finan-
cial delegations.
As the implementation of this strategy proceeds and a coherent picture of
Defence’s overall information assets and priorities for investment develops,
increasingly quantitative assessments for the costs and benefits should be pos-
sible and details of performance relative to best practice become available.
There is clear scope for improvements in the efficiency of current invest-
ments, especially in areas of duplicated infrastructure and increasingly in
terms of application coherence, as the developing understanding of processes
reveals commonality amongst organisations and business units. Transparency
of the resources expended on information related capability through MoD is
essential to developing the coherent picture.
Experience suggests that in the long term money can be saved. Using
information in better ways reduces reliance on capital investment and is an
increasingly important factor in the commercial sector as the use of ebusiness
techniques spreads. Commercial experience of just-in-time instead of just-in-
case logistics is a well known example, and the exponential growth of more
powerful and cheaper information capabilities is widening the scope to apply
this type of benefit beyond logistics into more administrative processes, as
seen in the Banking Sector.
In the operational context, the benefits of timely and accurate information
are well known and historically proven. However, the necessary cultural and
organizational changes needed to realise the benefits should not be
The revolution in Information Technology is transforming all areas that af-
fect our lives. Defence is no exception, and the new technologies make the
effective exploitation of information - long recognised as a key component of
military effectiveness – even more important.
Annexe 1
4.1. The Director (Information & Public Affairs) D(IPA)is the princi-
pal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary and the Additional
Secretary of Defence for Ministry of Defence news media relations,
public information, internal information, community relations,
public affairs and visual information training, and audiovisual mat-
ters and shall:
4.1.1. Develop policies, plans, and programs in support of MoD
objectives and operations.
4.1.2. Ensure a free flow of news and information to the news
media, the general public, the internal audiences of the
Ministry of Defence, and the other applicable fora, lim-
ited only by national security constraints and valid statu-
tory mandates or exemptions. Sections 2 and 3 delineate
principles that guide the Department regarding public
access to information and media coverage of MoD activi-
ties.
4.1.3. Ensure Defence WEB (http://www.defenseweb.gov.lk) is
operated and maintained as the official primary point of
Page 14 of 36 Prepared 1 April 2003 (A.Kulatunga). Confidential
Information and Public Affairs White Paper for Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka
Annexe B
resources.
1.11. Publication and prematurity in relation to publication Information
which is or will soon be published, or whose disclosure, where the
material relates to a planned or potential announcement or pub-
lication, could cause harm (for example, of a physical or financial
nature).
1.12. Research, statistics and analysis
1.12.1. Information relating to incomplete analysis, research or
statistics where disclosure could be misleading or deprive
the holder of priority of publication or commercial value.
1.12.2. Information held only for preparing statistics or carry-
ing out research, or for surveillance for health and safety
purposes (including food purposes), and which relates
to individuals, companies or products which will not be
identified in reports of that research or surveillance, or in
published statistics.
2. Privacy of an individual
5. Medical information