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US officials consider spreading lies to gain support for war
From ABC and The Globe & Mail (With reports from AP, Reuters and AFP)
WASHINGTON -- Defence and media experts were alarmed yesterday by a report that a little-known Pentagon office wants to plant false stories in the international media to bolster support for the U.S. war on terrorism.
"The mission is being carefully reviewed by the Pentagon," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
The Office of Strategic Influence was set up under the leadership of Air Force General Simon Worden after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, to wage a campaign to shape international opinion.
A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it responded to "a genuine desire to reach as many audiences as possible - particularly overseas. How you do that, that‘s the question."
The office has been circulating proposals for comment within the Pentagon but so far has done nothing, an official said, adding that none of the proposals he had seen specifically called for planting false stories.
However, according to the New York Times, one of the office is proposing to plant news stories -- some of which may be deliberately false -- with foreign media, using outside publicity firms, manufactured agencies to cover the source of the information, or outside groups with no visible affiliation with the Pentagon.
"We shouldn‘t be in that business. Leave the propaganda leaks to the CIA, the spooks," one defence official said.
Media analysts agreed. "Setting out to deliberately lie or ‘spread misinformation‘ can‘t have anything but a terrible impact down the road for any nation that claims to be an open and democratic society," Freedom Forum analyst Paul McMasters said.
"The only thing more dangerous than reacting in panic is to set out on a deliberate policy of lying and deception, where it is next to impossible for ordinary people, Americans or otherwise, to know what is the truth and what is a lie."
Such policies could also put U.S. journalists in harm‘s way while they are reporting overseas, "even more than they are now," Mr. McMasters said.
"There is already the perception among some abroad that American journalists are instruments of American foreign policy, in league with government agencies," he said, pointing to the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan as an example.
The proposal has not been finalized, sources in the Pentagon and State Department said. Nor has the idea of deliberately misinforming media outlets been submitted to U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for approval.
Mr. Rumsfeld, who has become something of a media darling in his Pentagon press briefings, promised reporters after the Sept. 11 attacks that he would never lie to them.
"The mission is being carefully reviewed by the Pentagon," Defence Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said yesterday. "We‘re trying to make clear distinctions on the appropriateness of who does what when it comes to effective communications."
But although there was little detailed information about the new office available to the media, an official confirmed that its activities could include "black" disinformation, which the Times said could include false reports e-mailed to foreign journalists, government officials and civic leaders.
"The return address will probably be a dot.com, not a dot.mil," the official was quoted as saying. Another way could be to contract publicity firms to promote the stories, without revealing their source.
The Central Intelligence Agency has long used covert disinformation campaigns in unfriendly countries. However, those operations require presidential approval and may not target U.S. citizens.
But critics said false information sent to foreign outlets will doubtless filter back to the United States.
"Anything they spread overseas will come back here, because information travels so quickly. . . . Our own population will then hear it and believe it," said Shibley Telhami, Middle East expert at Washington‘s Brookings Institution. "It will affect our decisions, and I see that as a tremendous danger."
The U.S. government worries it is losing public support overseas, especially among Muslims who believe the United States is hostile toward Islam.
"This is a battle for minds," deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz said yesterday in a speech to U.S. defence contractors. "Our victory on the ground in Afghanistan has already changed substantially how this conflict is perceived, even in the Muslim world."
Mr. Wolfowitz did not comment directly on the proposed new campaign.
The Sydney-based Centre for Independent Journalism says the Pentagon‘s credibility would undermined by plans to spread disinformation around the world.
Associate Professor Chris Nash says the proposal sets up the military as an organisation not to be trusted.
"As I say that is a funny thing for the Pentagon to be drawing attention to and that is probably why they have internal critics who don‘t think it is a very good idea," he said.
"But all it does is say ‘look, this is the nature of relations between governments and their people‘ and it is a very dangerous path for a government to go down, openly espousing that it is going to lie to people."
During the Second World War, the United States and other allied governments had great success in spreading disinformation that hampered the German war effort, in particular convincing Hitler that the D-Day landings would occur at Calais, not Normandy.
From ABC and The Globe & Mail (With reports from AP, Reuters and AFP)
WASHINGTON -- Defence and media experts were alarmed yesterday by a report that a little-known Pentagon office wants to plant false stories in the international media to bolster support for the U.S. war on terrorism.
"The mission is being carefully reviewed by the Pentagon," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
The Office of Strategic Influence was set up under the leadership of Air Force General Simon Worden after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, to wage a campaign to shape international opinion.
A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it responded to "a genuine desire to reach as many audiences as possible - particularly overseas. How you do that, that‘s the question."
The office has been circulating proposals for comment within the Pentagon but so far has done nothing, an official said, adding that none of the proposals he had seen specifically called for planting false stories.
However, according to the New York Times, one of the office is proposing to plant news stories -- some of which may be deliberately false -- with foreign media, using outside publicity firms, manufactured agencies to cover the source of the information, or outside groups with no visible affiliation with the Pentagon.
"We shouldn‘t be in that business. Leave the propaganda leaks to the CIA, the spooks," one defence official said.
Media analysts agreed. "Setting out to deliberately lie or ‘spread misinformation‘ can‘t have anything but a terrible impact down the road for any nation that claims to be an open and democratic society," Freedom Forum analyst Paul McMasters said.
"The only thing more dangerous than reacting in panic is to set out on a deliberate policy of lying and deception, where it is next to impossible for ordinary people, Americans or otherwise, to know what is the truth and what is a lie."
Such policies could also put U.S. journalists in harm‘s way while they are reporting overseas, "even more than they are now," Mr. McMasters said.
"There is already the perception among some abroad that American journalists are instruments of American foreign policy, in league with government agencies," he said, pointing to the kidnapping of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan as an example.
The proposal has not been finalized, sources in the Pentagon and State Department said. Nor has the idea of deliberately misinforming media outlets been submitted to U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for approval.
Mr. Rumsfeld, who has become something of a media darling in his Pentagon press briefings, promised reporters after the Sept. 11 attacks that he would never lie to them.
"The mission is being carefully reviewed by the Pentagon," Defence Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said yesterday. "We‘re trying to make clear distinctions on the appropriateness of who does what when it comes to effective communications."
But although there was little detailed information about the new office available to the media, an official confirmed that its activities could include "black" disinformation, which the Times said could include false reports e-mailed to foreign journalists, government officials and civic leaders.
"The return address will probably be a dot.com, not a dot.mil," the official was quoted as saying. Another way could be to contract publicity firms to promote the stories, without revealing their source.
The Central Intelligence Agency has long used covert disinformation campaigns in unfriendly countries. However, those operations require presidential approval and may not target U.S. citizens.
But critics said false information sent to foreign outlets will doubtless filter back to the United States.
"Anything they spread overseas will come back here, because information travels so quickly. . . . Our own population will then hear it and believe it," said Shibley Telhami, Middle East expert at Washington‘s Brookings Institution. "It will affect our decisions, and I see that as a tremendous danger."
The U.S. government worries it is losing public support overseas, especially among Muslims who believe the United States is hostile toward Islam.
"This is a battle for minds," deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz said yesterday in a speech to U.S. defence contractors. "Our victory on the ground in Afghanistan has already changed substantially how this conflict is perceived, even in the Muslim world."
Mr. Wolfowitz did not comment directly on the proposed new campaign.
The Sydney-based Centre for Independent Journalism says the Pentagon‘s credibility would undermined by plans to spread disinformation around the world.
Associate Professor Chris Nash says the proposal sets up the military as an organisation not to be trusted.
"As I say that is a funny thing for the Pentagon to be drawing attention to and that is probably why they have internal critics who don‘t think it is a very good idea," he said.
"But all it does is say ‘look, this is the nature of relations between governments and their people‘ and it is a very dangerous path for a government to go down, openly espousing that it is going to lie to people."
During the Second World War, the United States and other allied governments had great success in spreading disinformation that hampered the German war effort, in particular convincing Hitler that the D-Day landings would occur at Calais, not Normandy.
