Defence Minister Tagarev and US Ambassador opened a Bulgarian-American training on strategic communications

Bulgaria’s Minister of Defence Todor Tagarev and US Ambassador Kenneth Merten opened the Strategic Communications training, organised by the Public Relations and Protocol Directorate of the Ministry of Defence in cooperation with the US Defense Information School.

The training will be attended by 25 officers and civilian experts in public relations and public communications from the Ministry of Defence and the Bulgarian Army.

This is the first in a series of trainings being conducted in cooperation with the Office of Defence Cooperation at the U.S. Embassy in Sofia and funded by the U.S. government under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme. Basic strategic communications techniques, countering disinformation and countering hybrid threats will be presented during the training. Topics include strategic communications and public affairs during exercises, missions and operations, crisis communications, developing communications plans, narratives, focus topics and messages, influence operations, web operations, institutional response, tracking results and impact analysis.

"This training comes at a particularly opportune time because war today is not only on the battlefield, it is also a war of ideas, a war of perceptions, a war of narratives. In a complex security environment, we have an enemy that is very innovative - Russia is using historical premises and all possible means to advance its interests of today, manipulating public attitudes in its favour and creating discord in Bulgarian society. This malign influence also affects the Armed Forces and it is my direct responsibility to ensure that it is limited or disappears in the future. I believe that with the help of anticipatory knowledge and skills in strategic communications we could accomplish these tasks. We are currently in the process of creating a new model of strategic communications in the Ministry of Defence and the Bulgarian Armed Forces. The new model does not foresee the creation of new structures, but the strengthening of the existing capacity to counter hybrid influence," Minister of Defence Todor Tagarev said in his address to the participants.

"The United States and Bulgaria have a long and enduring strategic partnership. We work together to protect our common interests in strategic communications. All NATO allies, including our two countries, face the challenge of refuting false narratives and informing the public about real security threats and how to address them. I see that the Bulgarian Government prioritises strategic communications as a key element of national security. Minister Tagarev's commitment to today's event sends a very strong positive signal to all and demonstrates that strategic communications must be a top priority. Today's training is just one step we are taking together to increase our capacity. On 25 September, the two governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding to counter disinformation. Once again, I underline that we highly appreciate the Bulgarian partnership and commitment to realise these goals," Ambassador Kenneth Merten said.