Transcript According to an October US Department of Defense Report

GIJ08
What happened
to journalism after
9/11?
For additional information: [email protected]
The approach to selling the War in Iraq as part of the War on Terror was no
accident.
Three weeks after 9/11, driven by the terrorist attacks, a report prepared for
the U.S. Government
recommended a “strategic communication” initiative:
According to an October U.S. Department of Defense Report, in October 2001
the Bush Administration embarked upon a “Strategic Communication” Policy
to “mobilize publics in support of major policy initiatives.” They would use:
“a variety of instruments . . .to
understand global attitudes and cultures,
engage in a dialogue of ideas between people and institutions,
advise policymakers, diplomats, and military leaders on the public opinion
implications of policy choices, and
Influence attitudes and behavior through communications strategies. .
And the instruments included:
Public Diplomacy
Public Affairs
Information Operations, also referred to as PSYOP.
9/11 ultimately lead to a calculated, vast information operation that
would use psychological warfare and propaganda techniques to:
“Effectively communicat[e] U.S. Government capabilities and
intentions . . .” -- a “planned operation[] to convey selected
information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence the
emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of
foreign governments, organizations, groups and individuals.
But a secret “Information Operations Roadmap” issued by Donald
Rumfield’s Department of Defense in October 2003 made clear,
however, that “information intended for foreign audiences, including
public diplomacy and PSYOP” was increasing consumed by a
domestic audience and, in apparent violation of U.S. law, targeted the
American public.
Restrictions on access to
news and use of visual
images
FOIA release, Dover AFB
As recently disclosed in a groundbreaking story by David Barstow in the
NewYork Times, a large group of retired military officers – so called “key
influentials” – whose long military service “equipped them to give
authoritative . . .judgment . . . Appeared tens of thousands of times on
television and radio and television . . . To discuss the most pressing
issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.
“Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, [was] a Pentagon
information apparatus” that used those “military analysts” in a
“campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s
wartime performance.” “Most of the analysts [had] ties to military
contractors vested in the very war polices they were asked to assess on
air.”
Be aware of strategic communications and psyop
and information warfare directed against media,
ngos and local citizens.
Freedom of expression requires an affirmative
effort of free press to counteract PSYOP, public
affairs and public diplomacy techniques used by
governments to influence and alter news content.
Governments will not stop using these
techniques, but investigative reporters can learn
about them so that an analytical framework exists
to recognize manipulation and distortion of
information necessary to ensure accountability for
government actions.
A Handout prepared for this panel, which will be
posted online as a resources for future use and
will include certain important documents from the
Post-911 era.