Psychological
operations (PSYOP) are planned operations to convey selected
information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions,
motives, and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of
governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.
The
purpose of United States psychological operations is to induce or
reinforce behavior favorable to U.S. objectives. They are an
important part of the range of diplomatic, informational, military
and economic activities available to the U.S. They can be utilized
during both peacetime and conflict.
There
are three main types: strategic, operational and tactical.
Strategic
PSYOP include informational activities conducted by the U.S.
government agencies outside of the military arena, though many
utilize Department of Defense (DOD) assets.
Operational
PSYOP are conducted across the range of military operations,
including during peacetime, in a defined operational area to promote
the effectiveness of the joint force commander's (JFC) campaigns and
strategies.
Tactical
PSYOP are conducted in the area assigned to a tactical commander
across the range of military operations to support the tactical
mission against opposing forces.
Examples:
Guatemala
The
CIA's operation to overthrow the Government of Guatemala in 1954
marked an early zenith in the Agency's long record of covert action.
Following closely on two successful operations, one of which was the
installation of the Shah as ruler of Iran in August 1953, the
Guatemalan operation, known as PBSUCCESS, was both more ambitious and
more thoroughly successful than either precedent. Rather than helping
a prominent contender gain power with a few inducements, PBSUCCESS
used an intensive paramilitary and psychological campaign to replace
a popular, elected government with a political non-entity. In method
scale and conception it had no antecedent, and its triumph confirmed
the belief of many in the Eisenhower Administration that covert
operations offered a safe, inexpensive substitute for armed force in
resisting what they declared was Communist inroad in the Third World.
Sweden
There
are individual authors who claim that U.S. submarines and other
vessels "frequently" and "regularly" operated in
the territorial waters of neutral Sweden in the early 1980s,
including in Stockholm harbor, as part of an elaborate psychological
warfare operation whose target was the Swedish people. It is claimed
that U.S. operations were conducted by the National Underwater
Reconnaissance Office (NURO) and aspects of the operations were
coordinated with the secret NATO "stay-behind" network
deployed in Sweden. See Strategy of tension and Operation Gladio. It
is also claimed that British submarines also participated in such
secret operations.
CNN and
NPR interns incident
In 2000,
it came to light that soldiers from the 4th Psychological Operations
Group had been interning at the American news networks Cable News
Network (CNN) and National Public Radio (NPR) during the late 1990s.
The program was an attempt to provide its PSYOP personnel with the
expertise developed by the private sector under its "Training
with Industry" program. The program caused concern about the
influence these soldiers might have on American news and the programs
were terminated.
National
Public Radio reported on April 10, 2000: “The U.S. Army's
Psychological Operations unit placed interns at CNN and NPR in 1998
and 1999. The placements at CNN were reported in the European press
in February of this year and the program was terminated. The NPR
placements will be reported this week in TV Guide.”
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