Pentagon Propaganda Finding Its Way Back to U.S.
A Georgetown think tank secures the release of a secret 2003 Rumsfeld-approved "road map" for psychological warfare abroad. | postAccording to the document, our government takes no responsibility for propaganda that boomerangs and returns home--as long as the U.S. public isn't "targeted."
National Security Archive: A secret Pentagon “roadmap” on war propaganda, personally approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in October 2003, calls for “boundaries” between information operations abroad and the news media at home, but provides for no such limits and claims that as long as the American public is not “targeted,” any leakage of PSYOP to the American public does not matter.
Obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the National Security Archive at George Washington University and posted on the Web today, the 74-page “Information Operations Roadmap” admits that “information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and PSYOP, increasingly is consumed by our domestic audience and vice-versa,” but argues that “the distinction between foreign and domestic audiences becomes more a question of USG [U.S. government] intent rather than information dissemination practices.” | post
Check out:
- An AP story on the document:
WASHINGTON – A Pentagon “road map” to more effective use of information as a weapon says psychological warfare messages targeted at foreign audiences are increasingly finding their way into the United States. - A Los Angeles Times story on the document:
WASHINGTON — A secret U.S. military program that pays Iraqi newspapers to publish articles favorable to the American mission appears to violate a 2003 Pentagon directive, according to a newly declassified document released Thursday.
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