Published on Monday, December 1, 2008 by Politico

Will Networks Ignore Military Analyst Report?

by Michael Calderone

The NY Times' David Barstow follows up on his April investigation of network military analysts, and their relationships to the Pentagon and contractors, with a 5,100-word, front-page look at Gen. Barry McCaffrey.

Barstow writes:

Through seven years of war an exclusive club has quietly flourished at the intersection of network news and wartime commerce. Its members, mostly retired generals, have had a foot in both camps as influential network military analysts and defense industry rainmakers. It is a deeply opaque world, a place of privileged access to senior government officials, where war commentary can fit hand in glove with undisclosed commercial interests and network executives are sometimes oblivious to possible conflicts of interest.

Few illustrate the submerged complexities of this world better than Barry McCaffrey.

McCaffrey, an NBC analyst and op-ed writer, has consulted for military contractor Defense Solutions; was on the "advisory council" of Veritas Capital (a large firm acquiring contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan); and chairman of Global Linguist, a company working on a $4.6 billion government contract to supply translators. Such deals for contracts, of course, are contingent on the war continuing.

As Barstow writes:

In the fall of 2006, that was hardly a sure thing. With casualties rising, the nation's discontent had been laid bare by the November elections. Then, in December, the Iraq Study Group recommended withdrawing all combat brigades by early 2008.

That month, in a flurry of appearances for NBC, General McCaffrey repeatedly ridiculed this recommendation, warning that it would turn Iraq into "Pol Pot's Cambodia."

The United States, he said, should keep at least 100,000 troops in Iraq for many years. He disputed depictions of an isolated and deluded White House. After meeting with the president and vice president on Dec. 11 in the Oval Office, he went on television and described them as "very sober-minded."

General McCaffrey was hardly alone in criticizing the Iraq Study Group, and in his e-mail messages to The Times he said his objections reflected his judgment that it was folly to leave American trainers behind with no combat force protection. But in none of those appearances did NBC disclose General McCaffrey's ties to Global Linguist.

NBC executives asserted that the general's relationships with military contractors are indirectly disclosed through NBC's Web site, where General McCaffrey's biography now features a link to his consulting firm's Web site. That site, they said, lists General McCaffrey's clients.

While the general's Web site lists his board memberships, it does not name his clients, nor does it mention Veritas Capital, by one measure the second-largest military contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, after KBR. In any event, Mr. Capus, the NBC News president, said he was unaware of General McCaffrey's connection to the translation contract. Mr. Capus declined to comment on whether this information should have been disclosed.

The fact that Capus declined to comment on this seeming conflict isn't surprising, especially when looking back at the network response following Barstow's first investigation. Members of Congress, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Rep. John Dingell, reached out to Capus and the network chiefs at the time with little success. At the same time, Sens. John Kerry and Russ Feingold began pushing for an investigation by the Government Accountability Office.

In May, Politico reported on such congressional efforts and how the news networks - which could be expected to play up a deeply reported, NYT front-page story - largely ignored it. Sen. Kerry described the network silence to Politico as "deafening."

Specifically, what effect will this piece have on NBC and McCaffrey? As opposed to an NBC correspondent - like, say, David Gregory - McCaffrey doesn't have to disclose his commercial deals. But with nearly 1,000 appearances on NBC networks, McCaffrey isn't an just occasional talking head. He's been one of the most visible personalities when it comes to analysis of the Iraq war. It's worth looking at whether NBC makes clear to viewers on the air, and not only through its website, how McCaffrey profits from the war dragging on.

Besides PBS, the networks don't have an independent editor, or ombudsman, writing on what airs. (CBS shuttered its "Public Eye" blog). However, 10 days after the first Barstow report, "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams defended McCaffrey on his blog. But in light of this more detailed report, will Williams again defend the military analyst as being an independent voice?

© 2008 Politico