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Domestic govt propaganda is bad and foreign govt propaganda is the truth. Understood.
US plans to 'fight the net' revealed
By Adam Brookes
BBC Pentagon correspondent
BCC NewsA newly declassified do ent gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.
Bloggers beware.
As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer.
From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war.
The declassified do ent is called "Information Operations Roadmap". It was obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University using the Freedom of Information Act.
Officials in the Pentagon wrote it in 2003. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, signed it.
The "roadmap" calls for a far-reaching overhaul of the military's ability to conduct information operations and electronic warfare. And, in some detail, it makes recommendations for how the US armed forces should think about this new, virtual warfare.
The do ent says that information is "critical to military success". Computer and telecommunications networks are of vital operational importance.
Propaganda
The operations described in the do ent include a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks.
All these are engaged in information operations.
US Defense Secretary at the Pentagon
The wide-reaching do ent was signed off by Donald Rumsfeld
Perhaps the most startling aspect of the roadmap is its acknowledgement that information put out as part of the military's psychological operations, or Psyops, is finding its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans.
"Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience," it reads.
"Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public," it goes on.
The do ent's authors acknowledge that American news media should not unwittingly broadcast military propaganda. "Specific boundaries should be established," they write. But they don't seem to explain how.
"In this day and age it is impossible to prevent stories that are fed abroad as part of psychological operations propaganda from blowing back into the United States - even though they were directed abroad," says Kristin Adair of the National Security Archive.
Credibility problem
Public awareness of the US military's information operations is low, but it's growing - thanks to some operational clumsiness.
When it describes plans for electronic warfare, or EW, the do ent takes on an extraordinary tone. It seems to see the internet as being equivalent to an enemy weapons system
Late last year, it emerged that the Pentagon had paid a private company, the Lincoln Group, to plant hundreds of stories in Iraqi newspapers. The stories - all supportive of US policy - were written by military personnel and then placed in Iraqi publications.
And websites that appeared to be information sites on the politics of Africa and the Balkans were found to be run by the Pentagon.
But the true extent of the Pentagon's information operations, how they work, who they're aimed at, and at what point they turn from informing the public to influencing populations, is far from clear.
The roadmap, however, gives a flavour of what the US military is up to - and the grand scale on which it's thinking.
It reveals that Psyops personnel "support" the American government's international broadcasting. It singles out TV Marti - a station which broadcasts to Cuba - as receiving such support.
It recommends that a global website be established that supports America's strategic objectives. But no American diplomats here, thank you. The website would use content from "third parties with greater credibility to foreign audiences than US officials".
It also recommends that Psyops personnel should consider a range of technologies to disseminate propaganda in enemy territory: unmanned aerial vehicles, "miniaturized, scatterable public address systems", wireless devices, cellular phones and the internet.
'Fight the net'
When it describes plans for electronic warfare, or EW, the do ent takes on an extraordinary tone.
It seems to see the internet as being equivalent to an enemy weapons system.
"Strategy should be based on the premise that the Department [of Defense] will 'fight the net' as it would an enemy weapons system," it reads.
The slogan "fight the net" appears several times throughout the roadmap.
The authors warn that US networks are very vulnerable to attack by hackers, enemies seeking to disable them, or spies looking for intelligence.
"Networks are growing faster than we can defend them... Attack sophistication is increasing... Number of events is increasing."
US digital ambition
And, in a grand finale, the do ent recommends that the United States should seek the ability to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum".
US forces should be able to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum".
Consider that for a moment.
The US military seeks the capability to knock out every telephone, every networked computer, every radar system on the planet.
Are these plans the pipe dreams of self-aggrandising bureaucrats? Or are they real?
The fact that the "Information Operations Roadmap" is approved by the Secretary of Defense suggests that these plans are taken very seriously indeed in the Pentagon.
And that the scale and grandeur of the digital revolution is matched only by the US military's ambitions for it.
Maybe this story explains Vashner and Gtown, they are both one of those automated virtual people working for the DOD who post Republican propaganda on random political websites?
Domestic govt propaganda is bad and foreign govt propaganda is the truth. Understood.
If it's something done by the Pentagon, I expect it to cost about 3 trillion dollars, be unable to link to any mainstream page, and say something brilliant and disguised, like
"Bush good, Osama bad. Ughh."
You can thank the military for being able to post that.
Gosh, the military would engage in electronic warfare. Oh-my, the sky is falling.
Propaganda, no never in a million years. Be still my trembling hand. I know this
must be a first for the military or government.
yeah, because there's been sooooo many attempts to overthrow our government and stifle our rights
I think he was referring to the fact that what we today call the Internet was created by the U.S. military.
Did you know that the government can track your location on GPS just via the credit card in your wallet? It has a chip.
They must get bored watching me drive to and from work.
Yeah.. and they wrote the theory of relativity and other stuff too.
They look pretty stupid to me, but boy... they did good things.
Those military scientist sure believe in the military. Not god, not the borders of the nations, but they do believe in the military.
BTW, I know you refer to DARPA, but saying "the military" invented (or whatever you wanna call it) "the internet" is really dumb.
The first TCP/IP wide area network was operational by January 1, 1983 (this is technically the birth of the Internet), when the United States' National Science Foundation (NSF) constructed a university network backbone that would later become the NSFNet. It was then followed by the opening of the network to commercial interests in 1995
So does North Korea and Iran. Funny thing though, I bet the hardest part of Dan's day is when he agonizes over who's he'd like to suck more - Ahmedinijad's or Kim Jong's.The US military seeks the capability to knock out every telephone, every networked computer, every radar system on the planet.
One question, since when has the "internet" been free?
I thought Gore invented the internet!
Well that is what he said. And he wouldn't lie.
I couldn't care less about Gore
Oh! okay.
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