"The Pentagon has been criticized for not winning the 'hearts-and-minds' war overseas, as a recent Defense Science Board report [3] [pdf] contends. So, in my view, what the Pentagon did in reaction to these criticisms was to 'outsource' the handling of public opinion in Iraq to private firms, to show Congress and other critics that the military was 'doing something' about the 'foreign opinion problem [4].' The result: a PR disaster, both domestically and internationally, which has backfired against the U.S. and its armed forces," former State Department employee John H. Brown [5] told Press Action, responding to a question on the effectiveness and legitimacy of Pentagon [6] contracts with the Lincoln Group [7] and the Rendon Group [8]. "I think what the American public is increasingly discovering is that the current administration sees foreign policy as just one more way to mold American domestic opinion."