Allison Barber - Background

Background

Allison Barber earned a BS in Elementary Education from Tennessee Temple University then an MS in Elementary Education from Indiana University before beginning her career as a teacher at Merrillville Public School in Indiana. She taught there from 1986 to 1991 then left teaching upon moving to the Washington, D.C. area with her husband. She then began a career in public relations. From 1992 to 1998, she was a public relations director for the American Red Cross. Then she was president of the D.C. office of PlowShare Group, which specializes in public relations for non-profits. Then she was the president of Sodenta, a public relations and strategic communications firm (htt;://www.sondenta.com). In June 2001 she was chosen as the special assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Internal Communications. Then on November 26, 2003 Lawrence Di Rita appointed her to her current position as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Internal Communications. In 2008, she return to private sector and re-launched Sodenta, her own consulting business.

In 2006, with the help of Washington, D.C. pr-fim Susan Davis, International, Allison created the America Supports You program, to help the American people find ways to support the military and their families and communicate that support directly to the troops. In less than two years, the program included 225 grassroots organizations and had begun organizing activities which claimed to support the military; as well as 25 corporate partners that leveraged the America Supports You brand to create support for America's fighting men and women.

On May 11, 2007, officials announced that the Pentagon is "looking into complaints that Defense Department officials charged with building public support for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan might have been engaged in improper fundraising," David S. Cloud reported May 12, 2007, for the New York Times. The Times reported that ASY's fundraising practices were under inspection by the Defense Department's Inspector General. One issue is "whether officials who run 'America Supports You,' helped arrange a fund-raiser for a private foundation"—the America Supports You Fund—set up in December 2006 "by former Bush administration appointees," Cloud reported. In a January 2007 memo explaining the ASY Fund, Allison Barber wrote: "What we have learned is that the American people are beginning to fatigue, even in their support for the troops. ... I don't think we have a minute to lose when it comes to maximizing support for our military, especially in the new political environment." The inspection was completed within the year without any implications.

In October 2007, Stars and Stripes reported that the ASY inspection had widened to include the daily military newspaper. "Both America Supports You and American Forces Information Service -- the parent organization for Stripes -- are headed by Allison Barber," Stars and Stripes reported on October 20. In July 2006, Stars and Stripes awarded a $499,000 purchase agreement to ASY's PR firm. Stars and Stripes' top editors said the agreement raised "extreme concern among editorial staff," and promised to conduct a review of the paper's reporting on ASY. "We were aware of some interaction between S&S marketing department and ASY, but were appalled to learn the degree of involvement and the use of Stripes finances to fund the Pentagon's public relations campaign," they added.

The Inspector General's report on America Supports You was released late on a Friday, December 12, 2008.

Barber helped organize a October 13, 2005, teleconference call "billed as a conversation with U.S. troops" in Iraq. President George W. Bush's questions for the troops "were choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution," reported the Associated Press. "'This is an important time,' Allison Barber, deputy assistant defense secretary, said to the soldiers before Bush arrived. 'The president is looking forward to having just a conversation with you.'" In April 2007, Allison Barber was recognized as "Communicator of the Year" for 2006 by the National Association of Government Communicators. .

After giving more than seven years of service to the federal government, on October 20, 2008, Barber stepped down from her position in the Department of Defense to return to the private sector with her strategic communications company, Sodenta. A Stars and Stripes newspaper article reported in the Pacific edition, Wednesday, October 22, 2008: "America Supports You head Allison Barber leaving DOD - Allison Barber, who directed the American Forces Information Service that was the parent organization of Stars and Stripes, has resigned after seven years as a deputy assistant secretary of defense, officials said Monday. Barber was also the head of America Supports You, a Defense Department public affairs program meant to give publicity to non-profit groups that support U.S. troops. A program similar to the newly launched White House program called Joining Forces.