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Pentagon rolls out stealth PR
By Matt Kelley
12/14/05 "USA
TODAY" --- -- WASHINGTON — A $300 million Pentagon
psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing
pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing
the U.S. government as the source, one of the military officials in
charge of the program says.
Run by psychological warfare experts at the U.S. Special Operations
Command, the media campaign is being designed to counter terrorist
ideology and sway foreign audiences to support American policies.
The military wants to fight the information war against al-Qaeda
through newspapers, websites, radio, television and "novelty items"
such as T-shirts and bumper stickers.
The program will operate throughout the world, including in allied
nations and in countries where the United States is not involved in
armed conflict.
The description of the program by Mike Furlong, deputy director of
the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, provides the
most detailed look to date at the Pentagon's global campaign.
The three companies handling the campaign include the Lincoln Group,
the company being investigated by the Pentagon for paying Iraqi
newspapers to run pro-U.S. stories. (Related story:
Contracts for pro-U.S. propaganda)
Military officials involved with the campaign say
they're not planning to place false stories in foreign news outlets
clandestinely. But the military won't always reveal its role in
distributing pro-American messages, Furlong says.
"While the product may not carry the label, 'Made in the USA,' we
will respond truthfully if asked" by journalists, Furlong told USA
TODAY in a videoconference interview.
He declined to give examples of specific "products," which he said
would include articles, advertisements and public-service
announcements.
The military's communications work in Iraq has recently drawn
controversy with disclosures that Lincoln Group and the U.S.
military secretly paid journalists and news outlets to run
pro-American stories.
White House officials have expressed concern about the practice,
even when the stories are true.
National security adviser Stephen Hadley said President Bush was
"very troubled" by activities in Iraq and would stop them if they
hurt efforts to build independent news media in Iraq. The military
started its own probe.
It's legal for the government to plant propaganda in other countries
but not in the USA. The White House referred requests for comment
about the contracts to the Pentagon, where officials did not
respond.
Special Operations Command awarded three contracts worth up to $100
million each for the media campaign in June. Besides the Lincoln
Group, the contractors are Science Applications International Corp.
(SAIC) of San Diego and SYColeman of Washington.
SAIC and Lincoln Group spokesmen declined to comment on the
contract. Rick Kiernan, a spokesman for SYColeman, says its work for
Special Operations Command is "more in the world of advertising."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has emphasized that Washington
must promote its message better. "The worst about America and our
military seems to so quickly be taken as truth by the press and
reported and spread around the world," he said last week.
The Iraq example may cause Arabs to doubt any pro-American messages,
says Jumana al-Tamimi, an editor for the Gulf News, an
English-language newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates.
Placing pro-U.S. content in foreign media "makes people suspicious
of the open press," says Ken Bacon, a Clinton administration
Pentagon spokesman who heads the non-profit group Refugees
International.
No contractor for the global program has made a final product,
Furlong says. Approval will come from Rumsfeld's office and regional
commanders. Some of the development work is classified.
"Sometimes it's not good to signal ... what your plans are," he
says.
Contributing: Barbara Slavin
© Copyright 2005 USA TODAY
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