More control from the PMO

Page 5

Dear Editor:

The Chief of Defence staff and other military officers have been added to those being "PMOed," in other words subjected to their public utterances being screened by the Prime Minister's Office.

Known factors that may have contributed to this latest concentration of control may include any or all of the following.

1. General Hillier has publicly stated the pressing need for new equipment "in the very near future and actually by September would be quite good." This is in contradiction to the reality of procurement having been put on hold.

2. The attribution of policy direction to Hillier's "vision of the future" as having been the origin of Harper's directions of "winding up smaller deployment operations around the world to help focus the military's limited resources and manpower on larger missions such as Afghanistan."

3. Forestalling public consideration from within the military over the wisdom of abandoning small peacekeeping commitments at a time when Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor stated (assumedly with PMO approval) that "we will be greatly challenged to take on any substantial commitment anywhere else offshore."

4. The option of large scale missions other than Afghanistan has been removed.

5. Avoidance of public discussion on either procurement or operations would divert attention from the governments five priorities.

Whatever the rationale on the part of the Prime Minister it cannot be considered reasonable that the military be "PMOed" with it taking "about four weeks for speaking notes to be edited and approved."

Yours truly,

Joe Hueglin