Gates tightens rules for military and the media

Nine days after a four-star general was relieved of command for comments made to Rolling Stone magazine, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates issued orders on Friday tightening the reins on officials dealing with the news media. The memorandum requires top-level Pentagon and military leaders to notify the office of the Defense Department's assistant secretary for public affairs "prior to interviews or any other means of media and public engagement with possible national or international implications." Just as the removal of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal from command in Afghanistan was viewed as President Obama's reassertion of civilian control of the military, so Mr. Gates's memo on "Interaction With the Media" was viewed as a reassertion by civilian public affairs specialists of control over the military's contacts with the news media.