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Psychological Operations (PSYOP, PSYOPS) are techniques used by military, police and religious groups to influence a target audience's value systems, belief systems, emotions, motives, reasoning, and behavior. PSYOPS are used to induce confessions or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator's objectives, and are sometimes combined with black operations or false flag tactics. Target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals.
The phrase is commonly used by governments who do not wish to use the terms propaganda or brainwashing to refer to their own work because those terems have negative connotations. More sophisticated methods of psychological manipulation are accurately incorporated by calling it psychological operations. These euphemisms for mind control is itself an example of psychological operations, i.e. using psychological techniques to persuade a large number of people to support something that they wouldn't normally support.
Germany
In the German Bundeswehr, the Zentrum Operative Information and its subordinate Bataillon für Operative Information 950 are responsible for the PSYOP efforts (called Operative Information in German). Both the center and the battalion are subordinate to the new Streitkräftebasis (Joint Services Support Command, SKB) and together consist of about 1,200 soldiers specialising in modern communication and media technologies. One project of the German PSYOP forces is the radio station Stimme der Freiheit (Voice of Freedom), heard by thousands of Afghans. Another is the publication of various newspapers and magazines in Kosovo and Afghanistan, where German soldiers serve with NATO.
United Kingdom
In the British Armed Forces, PSYOPS are handled by the tri-service 15 Psychological Operations Group. (See also MI5 and Secret Intelligence Service.)
United States
Main article: Psychological Operations (United States)The purpose of United States psychological operations is to induce or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to US objectives. The Special Activities Division (SAD) is a division of the Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service, responsible for Covert Action and "Special Activities". These special activities include covert political influence (which includes psychological operations) and paramilitary operations. SAD's political influence group is the only US unit allowed to conduct these operations covertly and is considered the primary unit in this area.
Dedicated psychological operations units exist in the United States Army. The United States Navy also plans and executes limited PSYOP missions. United States PSYOP units and soldiers of all branches of the military are prohibited by law from targeting U.S. citizens with PSYOP within the borders of the United States(Executive Order S-1233, DOD Directive S-3321.1, and National Security Decision Directive 130.) While United States Army PSYOP units may offer non-PSYOP support to domestic military missions, they can only target foreign audiences. However, domestic Federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI are exempt from the above-mentioned law.
During the Waco Siege, the FBI and BATF conducted psychological operations on the men, women and children inside the Mount Carmel complex. This included using loudspeakers to play sounds of animals being slaughtered, drilling noises and clips from talk shows about how much their leader David Koresh was hated. In addition, very bright, flashing lights were used at night.
Terminology
Within the U.S. Psychological Operations community, the correct acronym is PSYOP without the "s" at the end, as noted in FM 33-1-1. NATO references will alternately list the capability as PSYOP or PSYOPS, depending on the source's country of origin, with European countries frequently using PSYOPS as compared to the US PSYOP.
See also
- Cults
- Information warfare
- Political Warfare Executive
- Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare
- Psychological warfare
- Psychological Warfare Division
- Irregular Warfare
References
- Dougherty, William: "A Psychological Warfare Casebook", John Hopkins Univ. Press, 1979
- Executive Secrets: Covert Action and the Presidency, William J. Daugherty, University of Kentucky Press, 2004.
- Executive Secrets: Covert Action and the Presidency, William J. Daugherty, University of Kentucky Press, 2004.
External links
- US Army PSYOPS Info - Detailed information about the US Army Psychological Operation Soldiers
- PsyWar.Org — Psychological Operations and Black Propaganda The history of psychological warfare / PSYOP with an extensive library of aerial propaganda leaflets.
- Psywarrior
- IWS — The Information Warfare Site
- U.S. — PSYOP producing mid-eastern kids comic book
- The Institute of Heraldry — Psychological Operations
- OSS — Development of Psychological Warfare (WWII)
- Clandestine Radio
- German PSYOPS forces