before i start, i want to stress that there's a human in there somewhere that's ultimately just doing her job, which is to read press releases that she has little influence over the development of. let's not forget not to shoot the messenger.

but she uses a quite restricted set of very clearly defined soft intimidation tactics that are constructed via a combination of the age and gender of the reporter. as the question and reporter shifts, the body language does in a way designed to control the discussion. that's not the behaviour of a psychotic person; it's actually too controlled, to the point that it must be the result of strict training. it seems to be largely successful. if this was in a back room meeting somewhere, it wouldn't be so easy to deconstruct. but, the thing is there's a camera on her and people watching that aren't getting stared down or smiled at.

the problem with a press secretary that has such clear, forceful body language is that she advertises things she doesn't mean to. it's quite easy to pull out when she knows she's lying because she stares right at the reporter she's lying to. again: not a bad tactic, except the camera that's there to deconstruct it. it's also easy to tell when she's challenged or flustered because she begins stuttering rather badly.

i know this is meant for internal consumption, but you have to understand that every powerful state has somebody that's smarter than i am and is watching this and taking these notes.