US military authorities in Afghanistan have terminated a contract with a company that was producing profiles of reporters seeking to cover the war there.
The media analysis work being done by The Rendon Group had become a “distraction to our main mission here,” Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, director of communications for US Forces Afghanistan, said on Monday in an e-mailed statement.
Smith and other US military officials have denied that the Rendon profiles were used to rate coverage by individual reporters as positive, negative or neutral or that the scores influenced decisions on whether a journalist would be embedded with a military unit.
The termination was effective yesterday, said an information paper on the US$1.5 million contract prepared by Smith’s office.
US Forces Afghanistan “has never denied access to any reporter based upon their past stories,” the paper said.
Rendon handled a broad range of media services, including writing press releases and analyzing coverage of US operations in Afghanistan, US officials said. The reporter profiles were background information on the journalist that would help commanders know more about reporters assigned to their units and what topics they would likely ask about, they said.
Media accounts were very different, however. The latest installment of the contract was awarded to Rendon in January, but the company has done work in Afghanistan before.
Stars and Stripes, an independent newspaper financed partly by the Department of Defense, said the profiles had been used as recently as last year to keep reporters whose prior coverage had been negative from traveling with US troops in Afghanistan.
With public doubts about the war in Afghanistan growing, the implication was that the military was trying to reverse the trend by giving spots to reporters who have written favorably about the war.
A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that just over half the respondents said the war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting.
“I can’t represent the allegations made by [Stars and Stripes], since they all predate my arrival,” said Smith, who took over as communications chief in early June. “What I can tell you is that we used the contract in a manner which was absolutely appropriate.”
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft