Jared Moya
March 7th, 2006, 09:10 PM
Details of the fiscal 2007 special operations budget request are emerging and psychological operations (or PSYOPS) are revealed to be one of the fastest growing areas of the "soft" side of the war on terrorism.
I'm all for the United States employing non-military measures as part of its overall defense strategy.
Typical of the Pentagon, though, the psychological operators have seized upon new technology and fancy toys to fight the battle for hearts and minds -- things like air-droppable satellite radios and miniature miniature AM/FM transmitters. What is more, they are fighting the last war in seeking to better communicate with the Islamic world.
As defined in the Fiscal Year 2007 Defense Department budget request, PSYOPS are "planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately, the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals."
READ ARTICLE (http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/03/can_howard_ster.html)
I'm all for the United States employing non-military measures as part of its overall defense strategy.
Typical of the Pentagon, though, the psychological operators have seized upon new technology and fancy toys to fight the battle for hearts and minds -- things like air-droppable satellite radios and miniature miniature AM/FM transmitters. What is more, they are fighting the last war in seeking to better communicate with the Islamic world.
As defined in the Fiscal Year 2007 Defense Department budget request, PSYOPS are "planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately, the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals."
READ ARTICLE (http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/03/can_howard_ster.html)