Military Psyops Propaganda Flowing Through the Blogosphere
Posted on January 27, 2006
The BBC discusses a recently declassified document called the Information Operations Roadmap that was written by officials at the Pentagon in 2003. The article says that some military psychological operations propaganda is blowing back through American television screens. This means the Psyops propaganda is probably flowing through the blogosphere as well.
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.The BBC article cited a couple of examples where military information campaigns were discovered including "some websites that appeared to be information sites on the politics of Africa and the Balkans were found to be run by the Pentagon." Bloggers trying to cover the complex Iraq War, terrorism and Middle East events now have the added bonus of unintended Psyops propaganda to deal with as well."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 document'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.