(2003-11-16) -- A top public relations firm has hired the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to "generate buzz" in the news media. Under the terms of the deal, the PR firm's clients will be mentioned in top-secret Defense Department memos.

"We've noticed that the best way to get the word out about something is to 'hide' it in a classified DoD memo," said an unnamed spokesman for Fleishman Hillard. "The only thing that can generate more buzz is sending the memo to the Senate Intelligence Committee. That way, the whole world gets the message. You can't buy publicity like that."

Announcement of the unusual arrangement comes after The Weekly Standard published lengthy excerpts of a top-secret memo from the DoD to the Senate Intelligence Committee regarding connections between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. A Defense Department spokesman said, "the memo in question didn't exist, or wasn't really from DoD and shouldn't have been leaked because it contained no new information even if it's true which we can't confirm or deny."