On this episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Strategy Series, sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, John Kirby, a retired US Navy rear admiral and former Pentagon, State Department, and Navy chief spokesman who is now the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, discusses the changing communications landscape and the increasing need to respond rapidly to emerging news and narratives, the critical importance of story telling when crafting strategic messaging campaigns, why leaders must prioritize communications, how to counter lies and disinformation, reaching audiences in their information silos, bridging the civil-military divide, why a close relationship between a senior leader and their communicator can generate better policy and strategy outcomes, balancing the need for message discipline agains the need to empower subordinates to communicate with agility and speed, and what good messaging strategy looks like with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian.