Psychological WarfareLinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
Psychological Warfare
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Psychological warfare
The general plan then goes on to state the conditions which will govern
the operating agencies. The important part of this section lies in
guessing where the operating agencies are likely to need coordination
and where not. If the plan is to reveal highly important and therefore
secret strategy, it should merely sketch the broad outlines of the
processes intended, leaving to experts the responsibility of determining
specific _do's_ and _don'ts_. In such a case, however, the plan should
not leave room for inter-agency or inter-personal doubt as to where the
interpretive function lies. Too often, highly formal agreements are
interpreted out of existence by propagandists who are interested in
adding their own proposals to those set forth and agreed upon in the
plan. When definition of the plan in operational terms[40] is needed,
the location of the sub-definer should be made very plain unless the
propaganda establishment itself happens to be remarkably well organized
and in no further need of definite prescriptions of function.
The inclusion of actual political and military goals in a propaganda
plan is an exceedingly ambitious undertaking. The goal, "To foster a
spirit of nationalism and independence among the Eastern Arachosian
people to the end that they may revolt and set up their own pro-Allied
government," is a commitment beyond the reach of normal propaganda. It
comes closer to requiring all the facilities of the operating state,
financial, diplomatic, covert, and paramilitary, to put it into effect.
The goal, "To give sympathetic circulation to Eastern Arachosian
autonomist sentiments so as to promote interference with the occupying
power," is much more nearly attainable. Military goals are often
described by propagandists as attainable by means of propaganda alone,
but there is no known example of psychological warfare having attained a
strictly military goal without assistance by other means of warfare.
Goals such as "the defeat of ----," "the surrender of ----," or the
"destruction of ----," have no place in practical propaganda planning,
since they are pretentious or deceptive. More legitimate are the goals
actually obtained by propaganda, such as "encouragement of a spirit of
factionalism which may assist defeat ...," "promotion of war-weariness
that will make the process of surrender more easily accomplished ...,"
and "appeals for the destruction of ----." Such points may appear minor,
but it is the overstatement of the propaganda case that has many times
goaded disinterested outsiders into becoming skeptics or opponents.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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