Mark Pfeifle

Mark Pfeifle (March 30, 1972) was a top national security advisor and communicator for President George W. Bush. Mr. Pfeifle recently served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Global Outreach at the White House.^[1]

Mr. Pfeifle was called to serve by the president in January 2007. He was the principal interagency coordinator for national security outreach and communication strategy. Mr. Pfeifle led the successful communication effort to promote the president’s “surge” of U.S. forces into Iraq,^[2] including a month-long stint in Baghdad.^[3] He worked on international communication initiatives to de-legitimize al Qaeda, to stop Iran from enriching uranium, to denuclearize North Korea, to achieve fair and free trade agreements and to advocate the causes of freedom, liberty and human rights to those suffering under brutal dictatorships.

On January 13, 2009, Fort Leavenworth Commander and former Iraq War spokesman LTG William B. Caldwell awarded Pfeifle the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Award for “dramatically improved communication planning and strategies...in support of the Global War on Terror.”

Career

From 1997 to 2001, Mr. Pfeifle helped lay the groundwork to elect President Bush, by serving as deputy communications director at the Republican National Committee. From 2001 to 2004, as communication director and press secretary for Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Mr. Pfeifle created messages to pass energy and conservation legislation and the president’s Healthy Forest Initiative. While at Interior, his official duties were quickly turned upside-down, when he experienced the violence of September 11 first-hand as one of the first communication advisors sent to Ground Zero in New York City.^[4]

Mr. Pfeifle took a second leave from Interior to become communications director for the 2004 Republican National Convention -- an event resulting in an immediate 13-point bounce in public polling for the president.^[5] The convention produced 3400 TV, print, radio and Internet interviews. The event took the Internet by storm, with a powerful online operation that attracted more than 40 million web visitors and the first-ever “Bloggers’ Corner” for web journalists.^[6] Recognizing the importance of Hispanic outreach, he started the first-ever daily Spanish-language press briefings at a national convention.

In 2005, Mr. Pfeifle directed the Social Security Information Center^[7] at the U.S. Department of Treasury, leading the communication effort for the president’s arduous attempt to fix the Social Security system. Later that year, Mr. Pfeifle was assigned to the White House to focus on communication strategy for the Global War on Terror. He also was called shortly after for a short tour as a senior communications advisor for Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Personal Background

Mr. Pfeifle grew up in Wishek, North Dakota. His first venture into journalism was at age 10 – authoring a nine-inch story about the local Mayville-Portland, North Dakota, Babe Ruth and American Legion baseball tournament. He graduated from the University of North Dakota with a degree in communications and was sports editor of the school’s newspaper.

His first professional work was as the manager of a tiny radio station in Wishek. Shortly after he became the marketing and advertising director of the Grand Forks Air Force Base newspaper and was a stringer and freelancer for The Associated Press and USA Today.

References

1. ^ Kamen, Al. "In Six Years in Office, One Year at Camp David", Washington Post, January 15, 2007.
2. ^ Stockman, Farah. "2 polls suggest grim view of surge", The Boston Globe, Washington, September 10, 2007.
3. ^ Lord, Erin. "UND graduate successful in Washington D.C.", The Dakota Student, September 12, 2007
4. ^ Duggan, Brian. "Ending 8 years of working for Bush", The Bismarck Tribune, January 16, 2009.
5. ^ "Newsweek Poll: Republican Convention 2004", PRnewswire.com, New York, September 4, 2004.
6. ^ "We've Got Creds For The RNC", The Command Post, New York, July 26, 2004.
7. ^ Allen, Mike. "For GOP, Urgency On Social Security", The Washington Post, March 1, 2005.

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Name	Pfeifle, Mark
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Date of birth	March 30, 1972
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