Deflecting Criticism against the School of the Americas

At the trespassing trial of activists protesting the School of the Americas combat training base, "new information surfaced about a comprehensive plan devised by the U.S. Army to deflect criticism of the school, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation." Defendant Aaron Shuman introduced as evidence WHINSEC's "Strategic Communications Campaign Plan," which he obtained from an Army public affairs officer. The $246,000 plan includes media monitoring, letters to the editor to counter negative coverage, and tracking Father Roy Bourgeois, the founder of the anti-WHINSEC group SOA Watch. For Bourgeois speaking events, the plan suggests "efforts to get an Army representative on the bill with the priest or in the same venue at a later date to present an opposing point of view."