The Public Affairs Department of the Church does not have its own agenda independent from the leaders of the Church, despite assumptions to the contrary expressed by critics on the Internet, the managing director of the department declared August 7.
Michael Otterson addressed the annual conference of FairMormon, an organization not affiliated with the Church but dedicated to defending it in public against verbal and written attacks.
Brother Otterson said the Church’s Public Affairs Committee is chaired by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and includes the senior President of the Seventy, the Presiding Bishop, the Church’s legal counsel, a female officer who is in the presidency of one of the Church auxiliaries, and an additional member of the Seventy who serves as executive director of the department.