Military ‘News' Campaign Is Seemingly In Conflict With Pentagon DirectiveSecret U.S. program focus of investigation
1/29/2006
Washington — A secret military program that pays Iraqi newspapers to publish information favorable to the U.S. mission appears to violate a 2003 Pentagon directive, according to a newly declassified document released this week.
“We concluded that we were operating within our authorities and the appropriate legal procedures. And so we have not suspended any of the processes up to now,” Army Gen. George W. Casey told reporters then.
A secret directive on the Pentagon's information operations policy released Thursday, however, appears to prohibit U.S. troops from conducting psychological operations (PSYOPs) targeting the news media.
“PSYOP is restricted by both DoD (Defense Department) policy and executive order from targeting American audiences, our military personnel, and news agencies or outlets,” states the directive, dated Oct. 30, 2003, and signed by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
The directive, titled “Information Operations Roadmap,” , was released Thursday by the National Security Archive, a research institution based at George Washington University that obtained the document under the Freedom of Information Act.
full story:
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=157E9638-F988-4C71-8324-874109852666Check out this info ops page from
IWS - The Information Warfare Site. More about justifying a disinformation campaign and stifling differing views to enhance the operation and maintain the 'morale of the troops' in the DOD documents provided.
from the
site:
Definition of Information Operations:
'The integrated employment of the core capabilities of electronic warfare
, computer network operations , psychological operations , military deception, and operations security , with specified supporting and related capabilities to influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp adversarial human and automated decisionmaking while protecting our own.'
DOD Information Operations Roadmap, 30. October 2003
from the Field Manual (FM) 3-13: Information Operations: Doctrine, Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures, <7 MB> Headquarters, Department of the Army, 28 November 2003:
1-76. During peace, commanders conduct IO to shape the strategic environ-ment
or to prepare for operations during crisis and war. Normally IO are part
of a combatant commander’s theater engagement plan. The majority of
peacetime preparation is done at home station or during training
exercises. Using contingency plans to focus their efforts, commanders
prepare databases for each IO element. These databases contain infor-mation
on possible adversaries and other significant actors. At the stra-tegic
and operational levels, databases focus on one or more of the following
target sets:
•Political leadership.
•Information capabilities and vulnerabilities, including military and
civilian communication networks, and domestic and foreign media.
•Military operations, leadership, and infrastructure, and their
vulnerabilities at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels.
•Economic factors that affect an actor’s ability to mount and sustain
military operations, and those that affect the morale of the population
and its leadership. This set includes the infrastructure that supports
economic activity.
•Social effects of ethnic, racial, and historical animosities and alliances.
1-77. The first four of these target sets coincide with the instruments of na-tional
power. The last target set addresses aspects of the information envi-ronment
that commanders consider when conducting IO. Examples of infor-mation
that databases may include are—
•People and groups who wield influence, both within states and non-state
actors.
•Decisionmakers, both within states and nonstate actors.
•People and groups sympathetic to US interests.
•People and groups hostile to US interests.
•People and groups vulnerable to US influence.
•Themes that appeal to specific audiences.
•Attributes of states that make them stable or unstable.
•States and nonstate actors that either accept or reject US economic or
military support.
•Religious, ethnic, and cultural customs, norms, and values.
most important:
Considerations during PSYOP planning include
•Legal constraints.
PSYOP is prohibited from targeting audiences within the United
States, its territories, or its possessions.
PSYOP must follow international law, treaties, and US law, especially
when conducted offensively.