Nbadan
12-13-2004, 03:17 PM
The Pentagon is engaged in bitter, high-level debate over how far it can and should go in managing or manipulating information to influence opinion abroad, senior Defense Department civilians and military officers say.
Such missions, if approved, could take the deceptive techniques endorsed for use on the battlefield to confuse an adversary and adopt them for covert propaganda campaigns aimed at neutral and even allied nations.
Critics of the proposals say such deceptive missions could shatter the Pentagon's credibility, leaving the American public and a world audience skeptical of anything the Defense Department and military say - a repeat of the credibility gap that roiled America during the Vietnam War.
The efforts under consideration risk blurring the traditional lines between public affairs programs in the Pentagon and military branches - whose charters call for giving truthful information to the media and the public - and the world of combat information campaigns or psychological operations.
NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/13/politics/13info.html?ei=5094&en=86117d4f693ff0fb&hp=&ex=1102914000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=)
Shatter the Pentagon's credibility?!? After Iraq, I didn't know the Pentagon still had credibility left. Where is the debate here? We have been using Psy-Opts against the foreign press all along.
Such missions, if approved, could take the deceptive techniques endorsed for use on the battlefield to confuse an adversary and adopt them for covert propaganda campaigns aimed at neutral and even allied nations.
Critics of the proposals say such deceptive missions could shatter the Pentagon's credibility, leaving the American public and a world audience skeptical of anything the Defense Department and military say - a repeat of the credibility gap that roiled America during the Vietnam War.
The efforts under consideration risk blurring the traditional lines between public affairs programs in the Pentagon and military branches - whose charters call for giving truthful information to the media and the public - and the world of combat information campaigns or psychological operations.
NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/13/politics/13info.html?ei=5094&en=86117d4f693ff0fb&hp=&ex=1102914000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print&position=)
Shatter the Pentagon's credibility?!? After Iraq, I didn't know the Pentagon still had credibility left. Where is the debate here? We have been using Psy-Opts against the foreign press all along.