Public Intelligence

Military information support operations (MISO) play an important role in DOD communications efforts through the planned use of directed programs specifically designed to support USG and DOD activities and policies. MISO 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 in a manner favorable to the originator’s objectives. Military information support (MIS) professionals follow a deliberate process that aligns commander’s objectives with an analysis of the environment; select relevant TAs; develop focused, culturally, and environmentally attuned messages and actions; employ sophisticated media delivery means; and produce observable, measurable behavioral responses.

The following leaflets are part of a collection (9.1 MB PDF) held at the U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Library at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  The leaflets were distributed to Allied troops in France and Italy from 1944-1945.

“Act of Valor” is a hybrid of fiction and documentary-style storytelling — the film tracks an eight-man SEAL squad that undertakes a fabricated mission to recover a captured CIA operative and discovers a plot to sneak suicide bombers into the U.S. across the Mexican border. In addition to its cast — led by a couple of especially telegenic warriors named Chief Dave and Lt. Rorke (their real first names) — the movie features live grenades, free-falling parachuters, high-speed boats, helicopters, an aircraft carrier and a nuclear submarine. It’s a level of production that would make blockbuster filmmakers such as Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer drool, obtained by two first-time feature directors and former stuntmen, Mike “Mouse” McCoy and Scott Waugh, for roughly $12 million.

The following is the second issue of “Inspire” magazine reportedly produced by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s media organization Al-Malahem. For proper background, you should read about how the first issue began its life as a garbled book of ASCII cupcake recipes before later being released in full. As with the previous issue, the authenticity of this document should be deeply scrutinized.

“Doing nothing about climate change is still a fairly common affliction, even in this day and age. What to do with those people, who are together threatening everybody’s existence on this planet? Clearly we don’t really think they should be blown up, that’s just a joke for the mini-movie, but maybe a little amputating would be a good place to start?” jokes 10:10 founder and Age of Stupid film maker Franny Armstrong.

At first glance, the process looks chaotic, but after a minute of watching the orchestration a brilliant concert plays out. One of the young men of the Alabama National Guard is from a town not far from the work on Dauphin Island’s west end, as are many others in his outfit. He says that being on active duty in the place he calls home is something state guards hope for. Though they go wherever and whenever they are deployed, often overseas, working to protect home surf and turf is always a welcome assignment. Sweat-stained brows, hands sticky with salty sand, throats parched from Gulf Coast winds and heat, these soldiers of Alabama are producing a visible protection as mile after mile of shoreline become lined with a solid defence against the oil spill should it come ashore. These ‘boxes’, when full of sand are often used as barriers against mortar fire in war zones. Some of these guardsmen have been behind them overseas. They don’t seem to care, however, whether they are used to stop weapons or an oil spill – they care that what they are accomplishing as a team is protecting home.

Be careful where you click, especially if you’re looking for news on the BP oil spill. BP, the very company responsible for the oil spill that is already the worst in U.S. history, has purchased several phrases on search engines such as Google and Yahoo so that the first result that shows up directs information seekers to the company’s official website. A simple Google search of “oil spill” turns up several thousand news results, but the first link, highlighted at the very top of the page, is from BP. “Learn more about how BP is helping,” the link’s tagline reads.

The Israel Defense Force released a video yesterday that it claimed contained audio of a conversation between Israeli naval vessels and the Turkish-owned ship Mavi Marmara. The conversation is supposed to have occurred prior to the Israeli assault that killed at least 9 passengers and injured dozens more in the early hours of May 31 in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean. This audio clip, which has been given the title “Radio Transmission from Mavi Marmara to Israeli Navy”, appears to be an almost comical fabrication, utilizing separate pieces of audio spliced together to imitate a continuous interaction. Unlike other clips which contain moving images, this clip features only a still photo. It was released a day after Israel’s forced retraction of the claim that members of the aid flotilla were connected to Al-Qaeda.

Early this morning, IDF Naval Forces boarded six ships attempting to break the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip. This happened after numerous warnings from Israel and the Israeli Navy that were issued prior to the action. The Israel Navy requested the ships to redirect toward Ashdod where they would be able to unload their aid supplies which would then be transferred over land after undergoing security inspections.

Below are some suggestions on why to release information as early as possible:

1. The American public, Congress and the media are entitled to “timely and accurate” information about the military, per the DoD Principles of Information (See Appendix).

2. Early release of information sets the pace and tone for resolution of a problem.

3. If you wait, the story will often leak anyway. If it does, you jeopardize trust and credibility.

The following video entitled “Please Help the World” was shown at the opening of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP15) in Copenhagen on December 7, 2009.

The Pentagon tried to favorably influence public opinion when it gave retired military officers working as TV news analysts insider access to war briefings, but it did not break the law, the U.S. Comptroller General concluded in a legal opinion released Tuesday.