(4) A series of phases, marking off the forms and methods of control so that the controlling staff can plan for a first phase of doing its own publishing and broadcasting, a second phase of letting the local people work under license with close supervision and technical help, and a third phase of permitting them freedom within the normal censorship limits of military government. The American DISCC's (District Information Services Control Commands) in the American Zone of Germany did an excellent job in moving rapidly from phase one to phase two in 1945 and 1946. =Contingency Plans.= Frequently the chiefs of government and services know of an operation or danger that may arise, which will change the character of the war. Such were the North African landings, the Italian surrender, D-day itself, the joining of the American and Russian forces in Germany, Hitler's death. For such contingencies, it is desirable to have plans ready stating the reaction of the government to the event. Such plans can be prepared and distributed to select personnel, and downgraded or released, together with any needed last-minute change, when the first word comes through that the event is officially to be recognized. Profoundly secret contingencies--such as Hiroshima day--do not lend themselves to such treatment. It must be repeated that plans are effective only when transposed into plain, simple, usable guidances for the actual operatives. When a plan is so secret or so involved that the only people who could carry it out are not allowed to know anything about it, it becomes a sad self-defeating effort. CHAPTER 12 Operations for Civilians Plainly, psychological warfare operates against civilians with as much effect as it does against troops. Indeed, under the rather high standards set for modern warfare by The Hague and Geneva conventions, psychological warfare is left as one of the few completely legitimate weapons which can on occasion be directed against an exclusively civilian and noncombatant target. Even though World War II erased most of the distinctions between military and civilian, leaving civilians in the vertical front line of all air war, psychological warfare gained. It became a more useful instrument for bettering war. Civilian interest in propaganda became no mere matter of emotional loyalty or philosophical preference, but a life-and-death matter to its recipients. After fire raids it would be a madman who would disregard an enemy bomb-warning leaflet without trying to figure out its application to himself and his children.