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 11th 2001

• The ‘war’ against Terrorism

Evolution of Terminology

• Political WarfarePolitical Warfare

• Psychological WarfarePsychological Warfare

• Psychological OperationsPsychological Operations

• Information WarfareInformation Warfare

• Information OperationsInformation Operations

• Information Support (UK)Information Support (UK)

• Perception ManagementPerception Management

It IS propaganda

• Black (Covert)Black (Covert)

• White (Overt)White (Overt)

• Grey (Unknown)Grey (Unknown)

• Hence defined by sourceHence defined by source

• Value neutralValue neutral

• Democratic values of propagandaDemocratic 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’US-led ‘Burning Hawk’• 29 million leaflets for Iraqis in KTO29 million leaflets for Iraqis in KTO• 4 POG and 193rd PNG deployment of 4 POG and 193rd PNG deployment of

leaflets, radio, loudspeakers and Commando leaflets, radio, loudspeakers and Commando SoloSolo

• 44% of Iraqi army deserted (60-80,000)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

MILITARYInformation In Warfare Information Warfare

Intelligence

Surveillance

Reconnaissance

Weather

Geographic

Other

Influence Attitudes

Deny / Protect

Deceive

Exploit / Attack

Information Warfare

Influence Attitudes‘Perception Management’

Public DiplomacyPrivate DiplomacyPSYOPSMedia Relations(PA/PI)Education (‘soft power’)Counter Influence/Propaganda

Deny/Protect

OPSEC

Information Assurance

Counter-Intelligence

ComputerNetworkDefence

Deceive

Spoofing

Deception

Imitation

Distortion

Exploit/Attack

Ballistic

ElectronicWarfare

ComputerNetworkAttack

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 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?

Any questions from you?