Responding to today’s news for the Nuclear Threat Initiative
Daily Advocacy Bulletin: Rapid Response
If President Trump’s recent announcement that the United States would abandon the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty wasn’t cause for enough alarm at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), this morning Russia announced it will launch “unspecified measures” against American allies hosting U.S. missiles if the Trump Administration does indeed pull out of the treaty. You can read more details about today’s news here.
As a courtesy to the peace-loving world — I’ll offer three unsolicited tips to Carmen MacDougall, NTI’s Vice President of Communications, on what she and her team can be doing right now to have a greater impact on this important debate and help save the world from a nuclear apocalypse.
1. Seize the moment: Don’t miss the opportunity to elevate your message when the headlines offer an opportunity
NTI is already an established leader in the debate over nuclear proliferation. With the subject of their expertise driving today’s news cycle, they should act quickly to seize the opportunity to use earned media to amplify their message.
If I were Carmen MacDougall this morning, I’d quickly activate a two-pronged approach to respond to this opportunity. I would move immediately to activate NTI’s media outreach to determine which major news outlets are interested in our perspective and assess each opportunity for its value. The internal media relations team and any available agency support should be pitching NTI’s exclusive voice to major outlets for comment on this news.
So what’s more valuable? A 90-second live segment during the opening hour of the Today Show tomorrow morning or a lead Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal on Friday? The answer depends entirely on the second prong of the immediate response.
2. Define your message and understand your capacity
NTI’s ability to effectively seize this opportunity depends greatly on its ability to get the right answer to the following questions: What are we going to say? And who is going to say it? In a debate as serious as nuclear proliferation while Russia is making overt threats against American allies, the consequences of getting those answers wrong can be severe. The universe of messages NTI could consider in response to this issue is as infinite as the partners and experts they have available to serve as the voice of these message. What the message is and who sends it will certainly come with some kind consequence — some of them that NTI would no doubt want to avoid.
If I were Carmen MacDougall, I’d try to define a safe space within this universe. What can we say and who can say it that is a real and legitimate response to this development but that does not exacerbate the situation, disrupt sensitive negotiations or alienate NTI’s partners in and outside of government.
It seems to me that a safe space is to respond from an ally’s perspective — a country that may be targeted by Russia because they host American missiles — and offer the point of view of the aggrieved. The message then, becomes as simple and straightforward as the following:
“This is an unwelcome development and there is no place in the world for this type of aggression.”
“We encourage both the U.S. and Russia to resume negotiations and honor the terms of the INF treaty.”
“We are hopeful that continued dialogue between all parties involved will result in a peaceful solution continued reduction in nuclear arms around the world.”
While the politics and international nuances of nuclear proliferation are many, this seems to me to be a safe space that effectively communicates NTI’s core message. With some outreach to experts and partners from American allied countries and the media team’s feedback on their pitch — NTI will have quickly defined their message, messenger and medium to take their rightful place in this debate.
3. Build internal support
None of this will be possible unless the leaders of the organization are aware and supportive of the entire effort. As much as I know about nuclear proliferation politics, I’m willing to bet that Joan Rohlfing, NTI’s President, knows a bit more. She is in a far better place to evaluate the potential risk of the outreach than I.
If I were Carmen MacDougall, I’d make sure that Ms. Rohlfing and any other leaders who need to know understand the approach we’re taking to create a rapid response and incorporate their input into our media pitch and message development process. When it all comes together by early afternoon and it’s time to give a green light, this will improve our chances of success.
If our boss tells us to pump the brakes and that it won’t happen — what have we lost? Nothing. As a communications team, we’ve simply gone through an unplanned, but useful team exercise in building a well considered, strategic communications plan.
I hope this is helpful, Carmen. Now get to work!
