Revealed: Pentagon's new black propaganda unit
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=134367

By Rupert Cornwell in Washington

20 February 2002

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The Pentagon is developing a major covert news and disinformation campaign
to help Washington win the propaganda
war against terrorism in the Islamic world.

The plan, worrying to some US defence officials, is being elaborated by the
Office of Strategic Influence (OSI), a recently
created unit funded from an extra $10bn (£7m) of emergency funds voted by
Congress to the Pentagon after 11
September. The main target is the Islamic countries of the Middle East and
Asia, but the campaign may also be directed
at Western Europe, where criticism has mounted in recent weeks of the Bush
administration's strategy to fight terrorism.

Little is known of the OSI other than that it is headed by an air force
general, Brigadier General Simon Worden, and is
being advised by a powerful Washington communications consultancy, the
Rendon Group. Its budget and staffing is
unknown. Rendon has previously worked for the CIA, the Kuwaiti government
and the Iraqi National Congress
opposition group, and is being paid fees of about $100,000 a month,
according to The New York Times, which
disclosed the existence of the OSI yesterday.

The blueprint for the propaganda offensive is being studied by the Secretary
of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, and by
Pentagon lawyers, and has not yet been formally approved by President Bush.
But Mr Rumsfeld is said broadly to back
the idea, and Rendon's background is further evidence of how Mr Bush intends
to ratchet up the pressure on Saddam
Hussein and achieve "regime change" in Iraq.

None the less there are misgivings within the Pentagon at its seemingly
imminent venture into an area traditionally the
preserve of the CIA and the State Department. The main fear is that by
feeding slanted and possibly false information to
foreign government officials and the international media, the OSI might
undermine the credibility of the Pentagon's official
press department.

One Defence Department official said: "We shouldn't be in that business.
Leave the propaganda leaks to the CIA, the
spooks. If we get the reputation for spreading false information, then what
is anyone to believe and not believe that comes
out of this building?" Other officials fear the initiative, once revealed,
might weaken support for the US among its allies.

Victoria Clarke, the official Pentagon press spokeswoman, said her
department was not involved with the OSI, calling it
"a work in progress". Though the Pentagon has been far from generous with
information about the war, Mr Rumsfeld has
more or less kept his promise not to lie to reporters, often telling
reporters investigating sensitive issues: "I know, but I
won't tell you." The New York Times said the plan, if approved, would
embrace "black" disinformation and other covert
activities in addition to accurate news releases. It would feature e-mail
messages, distributed by an outside source to
conceal their origin, which would promote US policies and attack unfriendly
governments.

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