Information Operations (United States)
This secretive unit was responsible for executing 22 large-scale military deceptions in Europe using techniques such as inflatable vehicles, false radio transmissions, loud-speaker sound effects, and phone generals.
[3] In the Pacific, the Navy successfully conducted its first electronic warfare activities later in the war when TBM Avenger aircraft were fitted with receivers and rudimentary jammers to locate and jam Japanese air search radars.
[4] Despite the success of the 23rd, deception was never used in a significant way in Korean War,[5] however psychological warfare was routinely conducted by the Eighth Army, predominantly in the form of airborne leaflets, including a weekly "news" leaflet dropped on communist forces, but also included radio and loudspeaker broadcasts.
[8] Though these examples fall within the capabilities associated with information operations, they were applied in specific circumstances for particular missions and not de-conflicted or synchronized for maximum effect.
[11] This directive mandated the U.S. Armed Services to develop their own doctrine, training, and equipment, to execute information operations.
[14] On September 12, 2011, by executive order, the JIOWC was chartered as a Chairman's Controlled Activity aligned under the Joint Staff.
The EC-130J Commando Solo is a modified C-130J Hercules used to conduct psychological operations (PSYOP) and civil affairs broadcast missions in the standard AM, FM, HF, TV, and military communications bands.
The United States Navy's EC-130Q Hercules TACAMO ("Take Charge and Move Out") aircraft was a land-based naval aviation platform that served as a SIOP strategic communications link aircraft for the U.S. Navy's Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarine force and as a backup communications link for the USAF manned strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile forces.
[34][35] In May 2011, the PBS program Need To Know cited a statement by Gary Samore, White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, in which he said, "we're glad they [the Iranians] are having trouble with their centrifuge machine and that we – the US and its allies – are doing everything we can to make sure that we complicate matters for them", offering "winking acknowledgement" of US involvement in Stuxnet.
[42][43] The United States military operates approximately 100 RIABs and hire local Afghan DJs in Afghanistan to broadcast information and host call-in shows.
[45][46] One advantage of employing RIAB systems is the ability to broadcast vital information immediately to a large audience in the event of a crisis.
[46][47] Radio programs transmitted using RIAB systems provide beneficial information to Afghan farmers in remote areas.
[42] In the isolated, mountainous Wazi Kwah district of Paktika Province, a RIAB system supplies the only source of outside news.
[49] Afghan National Army commanders use the RIAB to communicate to villagers and elders and provide thoughts to the community.
For general news, Afghans can also use other information outlets such as the BBC or VOA because RIAB systems are controlled by the US military.
RFA produces a variety of cultural, political, and informational programs that are transmitted to listeners via shortwave, satellite and AM and FM signals provided by the International Broadcasting Bureau.
RFA's mission is "to promote and sustain democratic values and institutions in Afghanistan by disseminating news, factual information and ideas".
Terrorists have integrated cyber attacks into their thinking, strategies, and operations as an extremely cost-effective way to harm the US and other adversaries.
A citation from the article: "Lately, al-Qaeda operatives have been sending hundreds of encrypted messages that have been hidden in files on digital photographs on the auction site eBay.com".
The USA Today articles were written by veteran foreign correspondent Jack Kelley, who in 2004 was fired after allegations emerged that he had fabricated stories and sources.
In October 2001, The New York Times published an article claiming that al-Qaeda had used steganography to encode messages into images, and then transported these via e-mail and possibly via USENET to prepare and execute the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack.
The Federal Plan for Cyber Security and Information Assurance Research and Development,[60] published in April 2006 makes the following statements: Moreover, an online "terrorist training manual", the "Technical Mujahid, a Training Manual for Jihadis" contained a section entitled "Covert Communications and Hiding Secrets Inside Images.
"[61] By early 2002, a Cranfield University MSc thesis developed the first practical implementation of an online real-time Counter Terrorist Steganography Search Engine.
This was designed to detect the most likely image steganography in transit and thereby provide UK Ministry of Defence Intelligence Staff a realistic approach to "narrowing the field", suggesting that interception capacity was never the difficulty but rather prioritising the target media.
A police search of a British, al-Qaeda member's home, uncovered what is now called "The al-Qaeda Training Manual", a techniques instruction book on deception, forgery, "blending in", hiding places, and the use of covers to blend into the terrorist area of operation (usually cities with large civilian populations).
As Dorothy Denning has found, "Children are being taught to hate Jews and Westerners, and to take up arms against them [through cartoons and comic-book style web pages, bedtime stories, and computer games]".
