Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Investigative journalist Michael Hastings recently broke a story on BuzzFeed about an amendment that is being inserted into the latest defense authorization bill. The amendment would “legalize the use of propaganda on American audiences.” Hasting reported that the amendment would “strike the current ban on domestic dissemination” of propaganda material produced by the State Department and the Pentagon. He says the “tweak” to the bill would “neutralize” two other acts—the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 and Foreign Relations Authorization Act in 1987—which were passed in order “to protect U.S. audiences from our own government’s misinformation campaigns.” Rep. Mark Thornberry (R, Texas) and Rep. Adam Smith (D, Washington) are co-sponsors of the bipartisan amendment.
Hastings says that “the new law would give sweeping powers to the State Department and Pentagon to push television, radio, newspaper, and social media onto the U.S. public.” One Pentagon official who is concerned about the amendment told Hastings, “It removes the protection for Americans. It removes oversight from the people who want to put out this information. There are no checks and balances. No one knows if the information is accurate, partially accurate, or entirely false.” The official added that there are “senior public affairs” officers in the Department of Defense who would like to “get rid” of the Smith-Mundt Act “and other restrictions because it prevents information activities designed to prop up unpopular policies—like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
In a Mediaite piece last week, Josh Feldman wrote of how the US military has been looking for new ways to spread U.S. propaganda “on social media websites for a while now.” Feldman also made reference to an article that was published in Wired last July. In the article, Pentagon Wants a Social Media Propaganda Machine, Adam Rawnsley told of how the DoD “has been working on ways to monitor and engage in ‘countermessaging’ on social media sites like Twitter.”
According to Hastings, the Pentagon already spends about $4 billion dollars annually to “sway public opinion.”
Here’s something to chill you to the bone: Hastings reported that USA Today had recently published an article about the DoD having spent “$202 million on information operations in Iraq and Afghanistan last year.” Well, it appears that the reporters who worked on the USA Today article were targeted by “Pentagon contractors, who created fake Facebook pages and Twitter accounts in an attempt to discredit them.” (Read about that story here.)
One of Hastings sources on the Hill told him, “I just don’t want to see something this significant – whatever the pros and cons – go through without anyone noticing.” The source added that the law would allow “U.S. propaganda intended to influence foreign audiences to be used on the domestic population.”
Michael Hastings:
The evaporation of Smith-Mundt and other provisions to safeguard U.S. citizens against government propaganda campaigns is part of a larger trend within the diplomatic and military establishment.
In December, the Pentagon used software to monitor the Twitter debate over Bradley Manning’s pre-trial hearing; another program being developed by the Pentagon would design software to create “sock puppets” on social media outlets; and, last year, General William Caldwell, deployed an information operations team under his command that had been trained in psychological operations to influence visiting American politicians to Kabul.
The upshot, at times, is the Department of Defense using the same tools on U.S. citizens as on a hostile, foreign, population.
Is this how we want our tax dollars being spent—to produce propaganda aimed at us Americans to sway public opinion?
SOURCES
Congressmen Seek To Lift Propaganda Ban (BuzzFeed)
Congress May Reverse Ban On Domestic Distribution Of Propaganda Material (Mediaite)
Pentagon Wants a Social Media Propaganda Machine (Wired)
Misinformation campaign targets USA TODAY reporter, editor (USA Today)
Excellent article, Elaine M.
http://current.com/shows/the-young-turks/videos/michael-hastings-glenn-greenwald-on-how-media-hype-about-melodramatic-terrorist-plots-helps-sustain-the-u-s-war-on-terror (Michael Hastings & Glenn Greenwald on how media hype about ‘melodramatic’ terrorist plots helps sustain the U.S. ‘War on Terror’ May 9, 2012)
“Michael Shure, Michael Hastings from Rolling Stone and Salon.com’s Glenn Greenwald talk about media reporting and hype about terrorist bomb plots. Greenwald says, “Most Americans don’t ever make the causal connection between the massive amounts of violence that we bring to the rest of the world and the way in which some people in those parts of the world want to bring violence to us.” Hastings adds, “The biggest black mark on the Obama administration is the continuation of the policies of the Bush years — the ‘War on Terror.’ It’s so insidious, now it’s become part of American life… We keep being told about it in the most melodramatic terms.”?
Seriously? They already do this every day, why do they even care if it’s legal or not. The Constitution is already illegal in their eyes.
Somewhere along the way our country has been hijacked. Our Congressmen (with a couple obvious exceptions) are no longer serving the people they are supposed to be representing. They are stripping us of our rights, poisoning our skies and our foods, and now want to arrest anyone who complains and throw away the key. By the People For the People was totally thrown out the window a while back.
Bron,
“If government has extra money to pay for this and probably many other stupid things like this, then they are getting way too much money from the people.”
I’d say government money wasted in this way–as well as other ways–could be used toward repairing roads and crumbling infrastructure, education, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc. Our politicians tell us there is no money for such things–but there really is.
Elaine, Mike, Shano: Very true.
I guess my own sense of nostalgia still clings to the notion a person can go to the press and the press will expose the corruption, sleaze, or other misconduct of the gov’t, corporations, or individuals. Maybe it is from watching “old” movies as a younger person.
I don’t want to detract from or give the appearance upstaging your excellent and much appreciated article Elaine so I’ll keep this brief. I know exactly what it is like to see a local newspaper be in-bed with the city government. When this happens, it is to a smaller scale of what can happen on a national one. It happened with a city within the county I formerly worked for. City Officials regularly leaked personal information or flat out lies directly to the city newspaper in an effort to lodge personal attacks against those who dared to call the actions of the city into question. I believe the city gave exclusive tidbits to the newspaper for unrealated material to increase the “copy” as “payment” for the newspaper’s printing of the city’s propaganda.
But, when a citizen attempts to use the press sometimes officials attack them because there is always another medium the citizen can go to if the city improperly influences one of them. I made a public records request for documents in December of 2008 from this particular city to expose to the outside world what corruptions I felt the city was engaging in. The response from the city? The police chief slandered and libeled me in an attempt to what I believe was to get the Sheriff to fire me. I subsequently filed a lawsuit against the city for this and other issues. November of this year will mark the 5 year mark since I began questioning this city’s actions and the battle continues to this day.
There are only two avenues of recourse and voice the average person is legally provided in our society: The Courts and The Press. Perhaps voting is, but it is limited if effect for the single individual. Using the courts, it is a financially and emotionally draining avenue for the average person and the government has nearly limitless funds to curtail the effort. The Press when acting under its true charter is swift and ubiquitous. It is the court of the people I would like to think.
One would hope at some point all members of the press would aspire to be the unwavering voice of the truth. That to me is far more heroic than being a stooge of the government.
Pogo once again proves prescient.
Matt,
The freedom of Speech protection is for citizens, isn’t it?
Darren:
Do you need someone to carry your bags?
:
Bron, there are some things government does well collectively, SS and health insurance are two. The military industrial complex has to be reigned in before they bankrupt the nation.
This will be their direct propaganda, State Dept and Pentagon- in order to keep the conflicts going at any cost.
They never want peace or any chance of peace to break out that would interfere with their bottom line.
It’s called freedom of speech. The first amendment. Say whatever you want.
And people wonder why I like small government?
Your tax dollars are going to pay for this.
And you wonder why I want a very low tax rate?
If government has extra money to pay for this and probably many other stupid things like this, then they are getting way too much money from the people.
But hey, I guess all you collectivists who are so enthralled with what government can do should wake up and see what they will always do which is destroy individual rights in the name of the greater good.
Economic control by government will always lead to despotism, get government out of the economy.
Yes, this has been going on for quite some time. It shows how worried the junta is about keeping people in line. As is typical, the illegal will now be transmuted into “legal”. As Glen Greenwald pointed out, the US govt. will be able to say anything it wants about Yemen, but everyone else will be subject to penalties. Interesting, no?
This govt. is out to crush dissent, to keep people from actual information. You have to ask the question, why are they so afraid of people knowing what is really going on? Why do they need to propagandize everyone, “legally” or illegally?
The example of Yemen, the US govt. is killing so many civilians. People there are protesting the US govt. for these murders. Yet, we don’t hear about that too much in our newz. Why is that? Why are we in Yemen? Is it because of Somalia’s oil? Is that why this govt. is sending ships? Is it why we are sending in more troops than ever before? Is it why we’ve sent more drones than ever? Why did Brennan just visit there before the EO of silence came out?
We’ve told Israel we’re ready to bomb Iran? Did we need another base of operations? Is there something in Yemen itself that we want?
We all could help each other by pointing out when the govt. is lying and trying to understand what is really going on in this nation and the world. I wish that’s what we would do but I fear that govt. propaganda keeps people distracted with false “issues” and “ideas”. The level of ignorance or out right denial of reality in this nation is something which harms all of us. We need to snap out of it and we can only do this by working together by telling the truth and trying to understand what is actually happening.
Make sure the kid doesn’t shoot Bill Murray with a shotgun.
If they get their wish, they will make Fox ‘News’ look like Democracy Now. jmho.
Elaine,
Good catch. This bill merely further legitimizes what has been going on for a very long time and in fact seems one of the characteristics of all governments.
Darren,
A big concern to me is that we have so many “journalists” today who help the government spread their propaganda. Judith Miller is but one example.
Doh!
(You’ll know why I said this when you read my next article, Elaine.) ;D
This is greatly concerning. I don’t know how successful these congressmen will be but the fact it is instigated is insulting to us. This is just what President Eisenhower warned us about, in the speech where he warned us to beware of the Military-Industrial Complex. I’ve been of the opinion it now encompasses the Political as well.
This type of legislation is the line crossing toward movement away form “By The People, For The People.” and a political class removed from the public and pursuing its own interests. And, the underhandedness of slipping it in to a defense bill, the true colors are in full bloom.
Most governments are inept at propaganda. As having been a child of the cold war times I learned to accept the opposite of what came out of Radio Moscow, which I listened to on my short wave radio, as being the truth. (Pravda is Russian for “Truth” incidently)
Aside from the afront to liberty, the eventual concern is most sheep will believe the propaganda and the gov’t will obtain the skill at a credible delivery. At that time the ability to discern the truth from the BS will be limited.
Times like that will make me glad I have dual citizenship and can simply leave if my efforts in small measure to help prevent this are not successful.
Does anyone believe these are politically controlled policy moves. Of course it was going on prior to the bill Mundt law, at least I think so. It was used to create hate the Hun propaganda effecting our engagement in WWONE.
The problem is we have our own forums and that is worrisome for them. The use of sockpuppets in social forums is months old isn’t it? I told one that he sounded like Eliza, and he disappeared. Which porves nada.
OT Can anyone give some info on the NSA facility in Nevada(?)???
Great article Elaine. It is a scary concept. Now that the journalists are completely in the corporations pocket, why not make it even tougher to get the truth out to the public?
Do you get to burn the American flag? Make your own decision. I was in the U.S. Navy, but I didn’t have to go to war. There wasn’t a war going at the time.