Propaganda Caught in Action?

Matthew Levitt of the think tank Washington Institute of Near East Policy being interviewed in the lobby of our hotel.  I talked to him afterward and he said that the U.S. embassy requested that he fly in and do some local interviews.

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts

Does the U.S. really do this?  Hire lobbying firms to do its PR?  I know we're all well aware that that lobbyists have too much influence in Washington, but to outsource the actual words and spokespeople?!  The way he answered the questions, it sounded as if he spoke as a representative of the U.S. government.

He called Edward Snowden a liar.  He talked a long while about the balance between safety and liberties.  He talked about the need for cyber security and the use of the Internet by terrorists.  The interviewer at one point said, "Since Bulgarians are emerging from a totalitarian regime, we are sensitive to giving up liberties."  He said, "Yes, Americans are sensitive to that." 

At the end he told the interviewer that if she needed help shopping the interview around, she should call him.  I didn't understand that.  Was this not for immediate broadcast on a specific network?

I wonder if the increasing number of street demonstrations and protests in this region and around the world, the U.S. is quickly sending people all over in an attempt to calm tensions?