Public opinion about psychosurgery soured significantly in the mid-1970s, when details of the CIA’s MK-ULTRA program were first revealed, detailing a conspiracy to brainwash subjects using psychoactive drugs (more is based on science fiction rather than science). Further revelations that the United States provided psychological warfare guidance to Nicaraguan death squads will not help solve the public relations problem.
Much of the paranoia about psychological manipulation stems from “a misunderstanding of what it is and what it can do,” says Tracy, who has written the definitive book on the subject.
While there may be grand ambitions to change “hearts and minds,” Tracey said, the practical effects of the work are more modest: “Essentially, what you want to do is influence people’s decisions about what to do and what not to do. .” Do it. “
In 1994, there were reports of a particular Pentagon musical innovation: During the Gulf War, for example, U.S. troops responded to Iraqi Scud missile attacks by playing Pat Benatar’s “Use Your Best” Hit Me With Your Best Shot to boost morale.
These techniques were later used by the CIA to torture prisoners captured in the War on Terror, a program now widely considered a complete failure.
What makes a good psychiatrist?
“Which is more effective: Tokyo Rose, with lovely, clear English but… very false; or Voice of America and Radio Free Europe?” asked Christopher Paul, U.S. Marine Corps Chairman of the Naval Postgraduate School and a senior social scientist at the RAND Corporation information. He answered his own question: “You can also use facts to be effective and persuasive.”
In recent decades, the Pentagon has even attempted to rename these operations with a more prosaic but more accurate name: Military Information Support Operations (MISO). The name hasn’t caught on yet.
Paul has spent years studying the effectiveness of psychological and information operations, particularly nefarious and covert propaganda campaigns. He noted that there have long been concerns that these technologies could be used against Americans, which is why the work is banned in the country.
“The Department of Defense has influence,” Paul said. “But by statute, law, custom, authorization and license: it is directed only to selected foreign audiences.” For example, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty are expressly prohibited from broadcasting to domestic audiences in the United States.
Tracy and Paul agree that psychological action is effective only if it is targeted, clear and (ideally) honest.
Paul pointed to Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election. “Did this change the outcome of the election? No, to our knowledge, did it cause or prevent conflict? No, to our knowledge, not yet,” Paul said.
When the Pentagon tried, it was equally ineffective.
In 2022, social media companies uncovered a frightening Pentagon-sponsored campaign using fake social media accounts to spread propaganda against Tehran, Beijing, and Moscow. The effort sparked a backlash and led to a comprehensive review of the actions. (That doesn’t seem to have stopped the Pentagon from trying deepfakes.)