A History of Psychological Warfare

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A History of Psychological Warfare

• From Political Warfare to Information Support
• Prof. Philip M. Taylor
• University of Leeds

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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)

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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 11th 2001
• The war against Terrorism

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Evolution of Terminology

• Political Warfare
• Psychological Warfare
• Psychological Operations
• Information Warfare
• Information Operations
• Information Support (UK)
• Perception Management

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It IS propaganda

• Black (Covert)
• White (Overt)
• Grey (Unknown)
• Hence defined by source
• Value neutral
• Democratic values of propaganda

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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)

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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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

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THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION TO THE MILITARY
Information In Warfare
Information Warfare
Influence Attitudes Deny / Protect Deceive Exploit
/ Attack
Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Weather G
eographic Other
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Information Warfare
Influence Attitudes Perception Management
Deny/Protect OPSEC Information
Assurance Counter- Intelligence Computer Networ
k Defence
Deceive Spoofing Deception Imitation Distortio
n
Exploit/Attack Ballistic Electronic Warfare Com
puter Network Attack EMP
Public Diplomacy Private Diplomacy PSYOPS Media
Relations (PA/PI) Education (soft
power) Counter Influence/ Propaganda
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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

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Weapons of Mass Communications my questions

• Communications and information are to the 21st
  century what oil and coal were to the 20th
• is the thing to kill terrorism?
• How to deter future terrorists?
• In for the long haul
• How long can the public stand for it?

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Any questions from you?