David Barstow, investigative reporter with the New York Times, won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for his articles "Message Machine: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand" and "One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex." To quote the Pulitzer Committee: "Awarded to David Barstow of The New York Times for his tenacious reporting that revealed how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended." Former Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey was the subject of "One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex". Perhaps McCaffrey learned some transferable job skills during his time as Drug Czar and propagandist for the "War On Drugs". The "ONDCP Payola" scandal occurred while McCaffrey was Director of the ONDCP. McCaffrey and others may be under investigation by three or more government agencies. The Defense Department's withdrawal of the highly flawed initial report of its investigation suggests the possiblilty its investigation is being re-opened. The effect of this on investigations by the Government Accountability Office and the Federal Communication Commission is unclear. The main legal issue concerning propaganda is whether the Pentagon and its sock puppet retired generals violated laws barring some forms of covert government-sponsored domestic propaganda. The war-profiteering issues McCaffrey is involved in suggest he played both ends against the middle, deceiving news sources and deceiving the US government to influence public opinion, Congressional decisions and military decisions in ways that earned billions of dollars for himself, his consulting firm and other companies he had ties with. It would be wiser for me not to speculate about how much his influence may have influenced Congressional and military war/combat decisions or whether McCaffrey's actions caused deaths, casualties, property destruction, etc. that otherwise would not have occurred. For much greater information see http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/8/pentagons_pundits_ny_times_reporter... and followup on all the links from it and the New York Times. The McCaffrey case study article is at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/washington/30general.html?_r=1. In related news Gil Kerlikowske became the new "Drug Czar" on May 7th. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is a major propaganda arm of our covert state religion with a long record of controversies involving possibly illegal covert propaganda programs, possibly illegal political lobbying at the state and local level and other morally bankrupt policies. Some of these controversies, including the "ONDCP Payola" scandal are mentioned at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_National_Drug_Control_Policy .