According to Defense One, new Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter has surrounded himself with three advisors who do not appear on the DOD organization chart. They are Michael Bayer, Sally Donnelly and Dave Copp [1].

Now, it turns out that Sally Donnelly, a former journalist for Time Magazine, served as advisor to the former Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. Then she joined the board of directors of Imperatis, a U.S. private army company, and founded SDB Advisors [2], which employs Ashton B. Carter and Michael Bayer as advisers [3], and Dave Copp as financial administrator [4].

SDB Advisors provide pointers to major companies in the United States and the United Kingdom on how to cope with communication crises.

SDB Advisors has recruited several former US defense officials such as: Admiral Mike Mullen (former Chief of Staff) already quoted; Admiral Dennis Blair (former Director of National Intelligence), Admiral Eric T. Olson (former commander of USSOCOM), General Carter Ham (former commander of AfriCom) and, only two months ago, General Mike Flynn (former director of military Intelligence).

[1] “Ash Carter’s troika”, in The D Brief, Gordon Lubold, Defense One, December 24, 2014.

[2] “Team”, SDB Advisors (site consulted on 25 December 2014).

[3] “Strategic Advisors”, SDB Advisors (site consulted on 25 December 2014).

[4] “Dave Copp”, Zoom info (site consulted on 25 December 2014).