<nettime> US plans to 'fight the net' revealed

[lotu5 <lotu5@resist.ca>]

Makes me wonder how many of the hack attempts on radical servers are
originating within the pentagon... Does this seem like news to people?
It seems to me like there is a lot of new information coming out lately
about surveillance and net war operations, and hopefully it'll give rise
to a strong response from autonomous groups like hacklabs, net.artists,
indymedia hackers, etc...


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm

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.

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.

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.



Read the roadmap here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/27_01_06_psyops.pdf


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