US plans to 'fight the net' revealed

by **finishedqq** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:03 pm

<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm</a> By Adam Brookes BBC Pentagon correspondent A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks. The document says information is "critical to military success" 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 document 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 document says that information is "critical to military success". Computer and telecommunications networks are of vital operational importance. Propaganda The operations described in the document 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. The wide-reaching document 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 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. 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 document 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 document 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 document 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. Information Operations Roadmap <a href="http://82.189.216.151/0014221ddd65/comfort-page/06e6_89d26d54_8f80_11da_9e3e_0014221ddd65/27_01_06_psyops.pdf">82.189.216.151/0014221ddd...psyops.pdf</a>

by **havanagila** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:30 pm

<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/fc/US/US_Armed_Forces">news.yahoo.com/fc/US/US_Armed_Forces</a> ReutersFile shows US 'psychological operations' concerns Reuters - Thu Jan 26, 7:00 PM ET WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged in a document made public on Thursday that information spread by the Pentagon to influence foreign peoples and enemies increasingly seeps back home and is "consumed by our domestic audience." The Pentagon argued the "psychological operations" information was truthful. But the research organization that obtained the document through the Freedom of Information Act described it as propaganda planted overseas that inevitably made its way back to the United States. 'what kind of info?

by **Floyd Smoots** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:46 pm

Donald Rumsfeld is the beautiful person/lizard?/illuminated one(?) who brought us that wonderful ambrosia/poison(?) "ASPARTAME" some twenty five (or so) years ago. Gotta luv 'im, or maybe, just gotta DIE 'cause you maybe knows "too much". That's just my opinion, but, in this case, I'm Godforsaken RIGHT!!!!!!!! ........the Flourinator

by **marykmusic** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 2:38 pm

...they have ways of making your computer talk. <img src="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/benson/pics/012606benson344.gif" style="border:0;"/>Benson (Arizona Republic) and I don't always have the same opinion, but when we do, it's wonderful. --MaryK

by **chiggerbit** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 4:18 pm

It would be "logical" that the military would consider this. The MSM is now owned by the corporate right, so they figured they had total control of the flow of information, not knowing what power the internet would come to mean to the public's ability to share information. If the left/middle doesn't grab ahold of the significance of this memo, they will lose even that tool. Parry has an interesting history of how the right took control of the MSM: <a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/060205.html">www.consortiumnews.com/2005/060205.html</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>....Following President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974, former Treasury Secretary William Simon and other conservative leaders began pulling together the resources for building the right-wing media infrastructure that is now arguably the most intimidating force in U.S. politics. A key goal was to make sure they could protect future Republican presidents from “another Watergate.” [For details, see Robert Parry’s Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq.] Meanwhile, liberals largely treated the Watergate scandal as manna from heaven and assumed that similar gifts would be delivered by the mainstream news media whenever future Republican governments stepped out of line. The Left saw little need for media investment and instead stressed local grassroots organizing around social issues. This progressive priority – summed up in the slogan, “think globally, act locally” – became almost dogma on the Left, even as conservatives expanded their political base across the country by exploiting their widening advantage in media, from AM talk radio and cable TV news to magazines, newspapers and the Internet......<hr></blockquote> Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=chiggerbit@rigorousintuition>chiggerbit</A> at: 1/29/06 1:21 pm

US plans to 'fight the net' revealed

US plans to 'fight the net' revealed

Re: US plans to 'fight the net' revealed

........And Don't FORGET

If they want to know about you...

Re: If they want to know about you...

Who is online