A U.S. military proposal to spread false news information to help build international support for the war on terrorism has come under fire from government officials and private experts who contend a “disinformation” campaign would further erode the Pentagon’s shaky credibility with the news media.
The proposal is being considered by the Office of Strategic Influence, a secretive outfit established after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States to outline a military strategy for waging a propaganda war aimed at both allied countries and hostile nations.
Among other things, the office is considering a plan to provide news articles favorable to the U.S. and other updates to foreign journalists and government leaders as part of efforts to win support for U.S. anti-terrorism operations around the world, defense officials said.
Government officials and private experts were quick to attack the proposal on grounds that it would undercut the military’s credibility, which they say has suffered since the war on terrorism began last fall.
By merging the kinds of psychological operations that have long been a part of military operations — such as dropping leaflets and broadcasting pro-U.S. radio messages — with its public affairs operation, they said, the Pentagon would irrevocably blur the two distinct disciplines, one based on the covert distribution of U.S. propaganda and the other based on openness. Doing so would lead the U.S. public and foreign countries to question almost everything military press officers report, they believe.
“We should leave the propaganda to others,” said a Defense Department press officer.
Bob Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, said that a disinformation campaign aimed at journalists could prove disastrous.
“The foreign press would have a field day,” said Giles, adding that “the government’s credibility has eroded because [it has] been secretive about many aspects of the war on terrorism, and this would simply undermine its credibility even more.”
A former senior Pentagon official said any propaganda campaign aimed at foreign countries would ultimately hurt Washington’s ability to tell its side of the anti-terrorism story.
“Sticking to our values and principles of truth and openness will serve us best in the end,” said the former official.
