Transcript A History of Psychological Warfare
A History of Psychological Warfare
From Political Warfare to Information Support
Prof. Philip M. Taylor University of Leeds
As Old as War itself
• • • • • • Sun Tsu (‘the acme of skill’) Trojan Horse (Deception) Walls of Jericho Alexander the Great Sack of Carthage (propaganda of the deed) Caesar and his circuses (importance of domestic morale)
More relevant now than ever before
• • • • The New Jericho: Panama, 1989 The Gulf War as catalyst • Kosovo: a sobering lesson Propaganda of the Deed – September 11 th 2001 The ‘war’ against Terrorism
Evolution of Terminology
• Political Warfare • Psychological Warfare • Psychological Operations • Information Warfare • Information Operations • Information Support (UK) • Perception Management
It IS propaganda
• Black (Covert) • White (Overt) • Grey (Unknown) • Hence defined by source • Value neutral • Democratic values of propaganda
From combat propaganda to strategic PSYOPs
• • • • • • Soldier-to-soldier communication Total War and the importance of civilian morale/support The Cold War as ‘a war of ideologies’ Operations other than war in the 1990s Soldier-to-civilian communication Terrorism: a war against an idea/concept
World War One
• • • • ‘The thing is to kill Germans’ ‘The defilement of the human soul is worse than killing’ Not over by Xmas 1914: new weapons needed Crewe House and ‘munitions of the mind’ against Austria-Hungary and Germany
WW1: consequences
• • • • The importance of public opinion and the advent of public diplomacy The arrival of new communications technologies Policy and Propaganda synergy and the tragedy of Versailles The arrival of new, aggressive, ideologically motivated regimes in Russia, Italy, Japan and Germany.
World War Two: Total War, Total Propaganda
• • • • • First RAF raid of the war was with leaflets! (‘bullshit bombs’) Media access to the battlefield Ministry of Information and Political Warfare Executive Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF Deception and Operation Fortitude
WW2: consequences
• • The ‘Strategy of Truth’ • The importance of credibility (and hence of the BBC – but to how to get heard?) • Policy and Propaganda synergy and the tragedy of ‘Unconditional Surrender’ The Ultra Secret vs. Political Warfare Executive (joint military-civilian)
The Cold War
• • • • • Back into the shadows (KGB vs. CIA) Into the strategic domain (USIA, British Council etc) Low Intensity Conflicts High-fidelity battles (e.g. space race, Olympic Games) The Great Communicator & ‘Star Wars’
Vietnam and its antidotes
• • • • • ‘The Uncensored War’, ‘The first television war’ Decline of psyops The Falklands Factor The Gulf War of 1991 as catalyst The Revolution in Military Affairs
The Gulf War as catalyst
• US-led ‘Burning Hawk’ • 29 million leaflets for Iraqis in KTO • 4 POG and 193rd PNG deployment of leaflets, radio, loudspeakers and Commando Solo • 44% of Iraqi army deserted (60-80,000)
The changing role of the military in the 1990s
• OOTWs in N. Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Haiti, Kosovo 1999 • New types of deployments, new skills required • Revolution in Communications technologies • Democracies and non-democracies
Kosovo: WWW1
• • Gulf War 2 without the ground war • The arrival of the Internet and the mobile phone • Asymmetrical warfare and the importance of propaganda (‘SOFTWAR’) Information Warfare and 103 million leaflets
THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION TO THE MILITARY Information In Warfare Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Weather Geographic Other Information Warfare Influence Attitudes Deny / Protect Deceive Exploit / Attack
Information Warfare
Influence Attitudes ‘Perception Management’ Public Diplomacy Private Diplomacy PSYOPS Media Relations (PA/PI) Education (‘soft power’) Counter Influence/ Propaganda Deny/Protect Deceive OPSEC Information Assurance Counter Intelligence Spoofing Deception Imitation Distortion Computer Network Defence Exploit/Attack Ballistic Electronic Warfare Computer Network Attack EMP
Perception Management and the ‘war’ on terrorism
• • • • • PSYOPs deployed in Afghanistan Al Jazeera as the ‘new Baghdad loophole’ Coalition information centres in London, Washington and Islamabad ‘we are losing the war of words’ - is this a failure of strategic information policy?
Co-ordinate across the spectrum of communications, from the tactical to the strategic, and back again
Weapons of Mass Communications – my questions
• • • • • Communications and information are to the 21 st century what oil and coal were to the 20 th is the ‘thing’ to kill terrorism?
How to deter future terrorists?
In for the long haul How long can the public stand for it?