'Influence Operations' & the New Age of US Propaganda

Sometimes Uncle Sam has to give his nephews and nieces a little 'nudge' in the 'right' direction.

In an age where a tweet can spark a revolution and a Facebook post can land you in handcuffs, the battle for the digital soul, especially in wartime, is a top priority of all NATO member-states. As the proxy-war with Russia continues to rack up a tab, the United States, as NATO’s top war lord, understands the critical necessity of maintaining control over the ‘Information Environment.’

The US Department of Defense (DoD) explains the threat posed to the nation’s interests in a blueprint for operations taking place in the Information Environment, stating serious concern over the ability of both state and non-state actors to “foster internal dissent,” as well as prevent threats to the perceived “legitimacy” of military operations in the population. This is of course entirely understandable - if the public knew in the early 2000’s that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction, they may have been a little less inclined to send their sons to the desert. This would’ve been a national disaster of epic proportions as it would’ve prevented the fine men and women in the beltway from the billions of dollars brought in from the 20 years of war in Afghanistan.

Americans can be rest assured however that the US government has taken substantial steps to ensure such a catastrophe can never occur here in the land-of-the-free®. Armed with strategies bold enough to make Orwell do a double-take, the DoD conducts various ‘Influence Operations’ both domestically and abroad. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 made it legal for US government to disseminate propaganda domestically, something that was previously restricted to US information being broadcasted abroad via entities under the authority of the US Agency for Global Media (formerly the BBG).

The obvious ethical concerns haven’t gone unnoticed. Even the war-hungry Rand Cooperation published a report highlighting the lack of ethical oversight in Department of Defense (DoD) ‘Influence Operations’ last week. The report states that “Currently, DoD lacks a framework to explicitly consider the ethics of an influence activity outside legal review.” It then went on to explain the important of writing a preparing a justification statement that will allow for approvers to follow the ethical logic used to justify a proposed influence effort.

If that doesn’t make your guts start to churn, the testimony of Joe Kirschbaum (GAO director) just might. In his statement he mentions the Joint Concept for Operating in the Information Environment released by the DoD in July 2018 which states that “DoD and its allies must be able to communicate a compelling narrative and anticipate and proactively counter an adversary’s attempt to manipulate information.”

The next time the media tries to drown you in the usual dramatics of the terrors of meme warfare and “Kremlin propaganda,” remember that Influence Operations are official military policy in the United States, protected by law. Nobody's actually required to serve you the unadulterated truth on a silver platter. After all, there is money to make and blood to spill. Surely, we ought not rob the kind ladies and gents in Washington of their favorite indulgences.

-The Shultz Report by M. Shultz