Congratulations Matt Armstrong

From Mountainrunner.

The U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy is charged with appraising U.S. Government activities intended to understand, inform, and influence foreign publics. The Commission formulates and recommends to the President, the Secretary of State, and Members of Congress policies and programs to carry out the public diplomacy functions vested in the State Department, Broadcasting Board of Governors, and other government agencies, as well as appraising the effectiveness of the public diplomacy policies and programs carried out by government agencies.

There are seven members on the Commission, with "not more than four members may be from one political party." In February, the White House sent to the Senate four nominations for the Commission. The Commission also includes an Executive Director hired as a civil servant on a two-year appointment.

Today, Matt Armstrong, author and publisher of MountainRunner.us, was sworn in as the Executive Director of the Advisory Commission. The immediate impact is the suspension of blogging, including the publishing of guest posts, at MountainRunner.us.

The Commission's website will be updated in the near future. Plans for the new website include a blog and repository for all of the Commission reports we can digitize.

I just want to say congratulations to Matt Armstrong. Mountainrunner has been one of my daily reads for years, and Matt has been a good friend and trusted mentor regarding the influence potential of Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communications, helping me understand how to shape ideas and activities into a maritime context.

For you folks on the Hill, if you don't know Matt Armstrong, it is worth your time to talk to him - you will learn a lot.

Photo by me. Left to right is Rob Holzer, Matt Armstrong, Paula Trimble, and Jack Holt after a few glasses of red on a summer night somewhere in Crystal City.