Rendon Group

John Rendon began his career in Democratic Party politics with George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign.

This Task Order funded a 60-day deployment of two media advisors to Indonesia to support the embassy's public diplomacy and opinion research.

Later, DOD publicly disbanded the OSI following a backlash when Pentagon officials said the new office would engage in "black" disinformation campaigns, of which The Rendon Group was not a part.

[10][11] In December, 2005, the Chicago Tribune reported that the Rendon Group received $1.4 million in 2004 to help the Afghan government with media relations.

Furthermore, the same official, Ambassador Daod, in a signed letter said that The Rendon Group did a great job and really helped his office.

"[12] The company continued its working relationship with the Pentagon, who funded an additional $3.9 million project to create a media team for anti-narcotics programs.

[citation needed] Critics say the Pentagon's use of media firms such as Rendon blurs the line between public relations and propaganda.

[citation needed] In late August 2009 Stars and Stripes reported that the Rendon Group was employed by US Forces Afghanistan to provide “news analysis and media assessment”, including profiling journalists writing on the war.

[5] Stars and Stripes alleged that one of their reporters had been denied embedding access for refusing to highlight positive coverage.