Psychological operations

Psychological Operations (PSYOP, PSYOPS), are techniques used by military and police forces to influence a target audience's emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and behavior. Target audiences can be governments, organizations, groups, and individuals, and are used in order to induce confessions, or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator's objectives. These are sometimes combined with black operations or false flag tactics.

This concept has been used by military institutions throughout history, but it is only since the twentieth century that it has been accorded the organizational and professional status it enjoys now.

The word is commonly used by governments, such as the United States, who do not wish to use the term propaganda, which would mar their image. The word propaganda has very negative connotations, and by calling it psychological operations instead, people are much more likely to support it, where they would be unlikely to support the use of "propaganda". This euphemistic naming scheme is ironically 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.^[1]

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 publication of various newspapers and magazines in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

United Kingdom

In the British Armed Forces, PSYOPS are handled by the tri-service 15 Psychological Operations Group.

United States

The purpose of United States psychological operations (PSYOP) is to induce or reinforce attitudes and behaviours favourable to U.S. objectives. Dedicated psychological operations units exist in the 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 conducting PSYOP missions on domestic audiences. While United States Army PSYOP units may offer non-PSYOP support to domestic military missions, they can only target foreign audiences. However, State Police are known to be trained at military sites in psychological warfare, and intelligence agencies like the FBI may be exempt from 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 loud speakers to play sounds of animals being slaughtered, drilling noises and clips from talk shows about how David Koresh was much 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 nation of origin.

References

^ Dougherty, William: "A Psychological Warfare Casebook", John Hopkins Univ. Press, 1979

External links

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

[1] Dougherty, William: "A Psychological Warfare Casebook", John Hopkins Univ. Press, 1979

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