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Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Torie Clarke has added author to her resume. Her new book, "Lipstick on a Pig: Winning in the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game," talks about avoiding public relations disasters. She was working at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, and conceived the idea of embedding journalists with military units in Iraq. The youngest of five girls, Ms. Clarke grew up in Sewickley, where her parents still reside.

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version December 07, 2005, 1:19 p.m. The Political Front Information is an important tool on the road to victory. In recent days, the prospects of the war for the free world have been buffeted by hysterical reactions to reports that the U.S. military has been secretly paying to place stories in the Iraqi press. The dust-up has caused panic in some circles, with congressmen demanding investigations and officials scurrying for cover. The result, for the moment at least, is an American rout in the war of ideas. This debacle evidently came...

United States Department of DefenseNews ReleaseOn the web: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2003/nr20030616-0102.html Media contact: media@defenselink.mil or +1 (703) 697-5131 Public contact: http://defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711   No. 419-03 IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 16, 2003 Pentagon Spokeswoman Steps Down Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld announced today that chief Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clarke would step down from her post as assistant secretary of defense for public affairs on June 20. Citing personal reasons for her departure, Clarke said, "I depart sadly, because this has been the best professional experience of my life. It has been a true honor working for the men and...

<p>When Victoria "Torie" Clarke was a shy teenager at Sewickley Academy, she would beg her English teacher to excuse her from addressing the class. Clarke would even lay her head down on her desk in dread, her mane of long, 70s-style hair tumbling forward and concealing her blushed face.</p>

<p>What's a woman to wear to give a Pentagon press briefing?</p> <p>Like a hothouse flower growing in a bed of moss, Victoria Clarke, the Pentagon spokeswoman with a penchant for nonregulation attire, has been attracting admirers and puritanical detractors. It's hard to believe, but the Defense Department reportedly has had to waste time fielding comments about the assistant undersecretary's jackets. The impressive Ms. Clarke delivers her crisp war briefings while seeming oblivious to the fact that she's wearing chirpy violet, preppie pink-and-green, or Mondrian color blocks from the neck down.</p>

Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke has attracted more comment on her dress sense than her style of delivery. There could be a good reason for that, says Gary Younge The US defence department's press office has been receiving complaints following its daily briefings. Given the abrasive style and evasive nature of defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld's delivery and the splits emerging between the politicians and the military, you would think it was about time. But the complaints are not from peace protesters demanding more information on innocent civilians, or retired generals worried about supply lines, but men who believe that pink is...

At a classified briefing last month , a top Pentagon advisory panel was told Saudi Arabia is an enemy to the United States and a backer of terrorism. "The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader," stated the briefing prepared by Laurent Murawiec, a Rand Corporation analyst. The briefing was presented on July 10 to the Defense Policy Board, a group of prominent intellectuals and former senior officials that advises the Pentagon on defense policy, the report said, adding that it appeared to be linked...