Public Affairs Leadership Department (PALD) provides basic and advanced public affairs training to U.S. and international military officers, members of the U.S. Coast Guard, senior enlisted personnel, and civilian personnel in DoD and other federal agencies. Instruction focuses on the doctrine, principles, techniques and application of military public affairs.

Note: Public Affairs training for enlisted personnel is conducted during journalism and broadcast courses.

Defense Information School
Public Affairs Leadership Department
6500 Mapes Road
Fort Meade, MD 20755-5620

Coast Guard Public Affairs Course

The purpose of the Coast Guard Public Affairs Course is to train selected Coast Guard personnel in the principles, techniques and skills required to conduct a unit’s media relations public affairs program. This course is designed to provide an introduction to the basic theory, concepts, policy and principles of one component of a unit public affairs program -- the basics of media relations practices. CGPAC focuses on guidelines for releasing information, crisis communication, defining and identifying news, and introductory media relations. The students will draft news releases, conduct on-camera interviews and moderate and conduct a news briefing.

Combat Camera Leadership Course

The purpose of the Combat Camera Leadership Course is to train selected officers and senior noncommissioned officers in the principles, techniques and skills required to perform the duties and functions of a combat camera officer and combat camera noncommissioned officer in charge. The CCLC focuses on identifying the mission and functions of Combat Camera including the development of operational support plans, budgets, equipment/systems maintenance plans, policy and procedures, marketing plans, imagery management plans, and training plans. It also includes in-depth theoretical and working knowledge of how Combat Camera functions within the Department of Defense.

Intermediate Public Affairs Specialist Course

Graduates of the Intermediate Public Affairs Specialist Course will be able to perform duties of an intermediate- to advanced-level public affairs specialist, especially in a joint-service environment. The scope of this training includes measuring effective public affairs programs, assessing markets for public information, media operations, and resource management. Students will be instructed on the higher level of public affairs activities required in a joint/deployed environment, including ethical norms and considerations, communication management and evaluation (including civilian enterprise contracts,) and website requirements, use and assessment.

Joint Expeditionary Public Affairs Course

The Joint Expeditionary Public Affairs Course prepares public affairs officers and noncommissioned officers to rapidly transition into the duties and responsibilities of delivering effective public affairs in an expeditionary environment. The course addresses the training requirements for the PA professional with little or no expeditionary experience who is pending deployment. JEPAC students will study and practice planning and execution of public affairs operations unique to an expeditionary environment with an emphasis on operational planning and integration on a joint staff. This course reinforces basic and intermediate skills within the context of an expeditionary mission. Candidates who will benefit most from this course are those with minimum to no experience on a deployed joint staff.

Joint Intermediate Public Affairs Course

The purpose of the Joint Intermediate Public Affairs Course is to provide intermediate education and training to prepare public affairs practitioners to perform effectively across the spectrum of PA operations. JIPAC provides the knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of a public affairs practitioner at the operational level. Particular emphasis is on PA professional who will be performing duties as part of a deployed Joint Task Force. The scope of this training includes classroom discussion, guest speakers and field trips.

Joint Senior Enlisted Public Affairs Course

The purpose of the Joint Senior Enlisted Public Affairs Course is to enhance the roles of senior enlisted public affairs advisors, including their service as public affairs officers, at the highest and joint levels. The course provides graduate-level experience for senior enlisted public affairs professionals. Using guest lecturers, guided discussions and a series of practical exercises, this course will prepare attendees with critical thinking and planning skills to fulfill their advisory roles at the highest levels.

Joint Senior Public Affairs Course

The Joint Senior Public Affairs Course provides a capstone experience for senior public affairs leaders within the Department of Defense and U.S. government agencies. Students explore and refine their role as senior communication counselors and strategic planners through panel and guided discussions with senior leader mentors and distinguished guest speakers, and from staff rides, case studies, and group/individual exercises.

Public Affairs Qualification Course

The Public Affairs Qualification Course provides entry-level public affairs training for mid- to senior-level commissioned and senior noncommissioned officers from all U.S. military services, selected foreign nations, and U.S. government agency civilians selected for public affairs assignments at all levels of command. This course will ensure those officers, NCOs and civilians are capable of performing the basic duties of Department of Defense military public affairs practitioners.

PAQC examines conventions within the philosophy of public affairs/relations. The growth of technology and a rapidly-evolving, fast-paced world has brought the delivery of news to several mediums, which means the public affairs leader must learn to utilize different forms of presentations for print, Web, and broadcast delivery. This course encompasses practical principles of interviewing, reporting, writing, and editing for each field of approach with focus on techniques of researching, analyzing, and writing news for different delivery methods of print, Web, and broadcast. PAQC provides practice in interviewing, writing, editing and building research skills through the use of various media. PAQC is organized into eight functional areas beginning with introductory theories, practical exercises, case studies and intense, graded homework exercises stimulating critical thinking skills and culminating with a real-life experience in a capstone operational support exercise.

Public Affairs Qualification Course – Advanced Distributed Learning

The Public Affairs Qualification Course – Advanced Distributed Learning course, which consists of 26 weeks of online training and two weeks of resident training, provides entry-level public affairs training for mid- to senior-level commissioned and senior noncommissioned officers from all U.S. military services and U.S. government agency civilians selected for public affairs assignments at all levels of command. This course will ensure those officers, NCOs and civilians are capable of performing the basic duties of Department of Defense military public affairs practitioners.

The ADL format offers students who are otherwise unable to attend the 8-week PAQC resident course the curriculum of the Public Affairs Qualification course in two mandatory phases: Phase 1 (non-resident) and Phase 2 (resident).

Non-resident

In the 26-week non-resident Phase 1 (PAQC-ADL-NR,) students will examine conventions within the philosophy of public affairs/relations. The growth of technology and a rapidly-evolving, fast-paced world has brought the delivery of news to several mediums, which means the public affairs leader must learn to utilize different forms of presentations for print, Web, and broadcast delivery. This course encompasses practical principles of reporting, writing, and editing for each field of approach with focus on techniques of researching, analyzing, and writing news for different delivery methods of print, Web, and broadcast.

Resident

In the resident Phase 2 (PAQC-ADL-R,) students will spend two weeks at DINFOS, concentrating on practical application of skills learned in Phase I. Phase II culminates with a capstone exercise in a simulated deployed operational environment, requiring students to apply skills from knowledge and proficiencies gained throughout Phase 1 and Phase 2 in order to perform the basic duties of a military public affairs leader.

Visual Information Management

The Visual Information Management course provides professional development in the knowledge and skills needed to perform the duties of visual information management.

The VIM course provides in-depth training in the duties required to manage a visual information activity. Students apply pertinent doctrine and policy during seminars and practical exercises to the management of a VI activity. Subjects covered are: ethics, functions of a VI activity, procedures for producing VI productions, VI records management, personnel issues, the budgeting process, equipment/supply management, contracting for services, customer relations, deploying VI assets, strategic planning and an overview of the visual information process within the Department of Defense and its component services, as well as the future of VI.