File shows US 'psychological operations' concerns

[Gabbal]

File shows US 'psychological operations' concerns

 

 

By Will Dunham Thu Jan 26, 7:00 PM ET

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged in a document made public on Thursday that information spread by the

Pentagon to influence foreign peoples and enemies increasingly seeps back home and is "consumed by our domestic audience."

 

The Pentagon argued the "psychological operations" information was truthful. But the research organization that obtained the document through the Freedom of Information Act described it as propaganda planted overseas that inevitably made its way back to the United States.

 

The document's disclosure comes amid a fierce debate over what is permissible for the U.S. government in getting its message across to foreign audiences. For example, the U.S. military command in

Iraq is investigating a military program that funneled money to some Iraqi newspapers to publish pro-American articles.

 

The document, marked "secret," was titled "Information Operations Roadmap," and laid out the need for the Pentagon to improve its capabilities in psychological operations, electronic warfare, military deception and other areas.

 

"Secretary Rumsfeld's road map says the American people can't be protected from the Pentagon's psychological operations abroad but it doesn't matter as long as he's not targeting the American public. It's the collateral damage theory of propaganda," said Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University in Washington.

 

The document stated that "information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and PSYOP (psychological operations), increasingly is consumed by our domestic audience and vice-versa."

 

Chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said he rejected the notion the Pentagon was comfortable with the notion of propaganda "bleeding back" from overseas to the United States. "We're not OK with it," Di Rita said.

 

"First of all, we're not lying. We're talking about truthful, accurate information, so that's baloney," Di Rita said.

 

The document noted that psychological operations were restricted by both Pentagon policy and presidential executive order from targeting American audiences and news organizations, as well as U.S. military personnel.

 

"The increasing ability of people in most parts of the globe to access international information sources makes targeting particular audiences more difficult. Today the distinction between foreign and domestic audiences becomes more a question of USG (U.S. government) intent rather than information dissemination practices," the document stated.

 

Information used in psychological operations "will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public," it stated.

 

"The likelihood that PSYOP messages will be replayed to a much broader audience, including the American public, requires specific boundaries be established," the document stated.

 

Pentagon officials said the document remained in effect but that some matters it covered were being re-evaluated.

 

Source