POVA Leaflet Drop - February 2024

 

POVA LEAFLET DROP - February 2024 

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 

Greetings Fellow PSYOPers! 

The monthly meeting of the POVA Board of Directors was held at 1900 Eastern Time on 21 February 2024. Attending were: Larry Dietz, Mike Rogers, and Ham Salley. 

Following up on last month, we had two members respond to our request for assistance with with membership management and potential reunion planning. I will be working with them over the coming weeks. 

Potential Reunion 

We have been invited to have the POVA reunion at the same time and venue as the 7th POG’s Yearly Training Briefing and Military Ball. That event is targeted for June 2024, exact dates and venue to be determined. This is a very short fuse and we might be better off targeting the same event, time and place for 2025. Input from the membership regarding the preferred timing would be appreciated.. 

Congressional Information Campaign 

As many of you know, there are a number of current initiatives which are intended to reorganize the command structure of Psychological Operations units. POVA believes that these initiatives are not in the best of interests of our national security and will result in a severe reduction of the combat effectiveness of PSYOP. 

Accordingly, POVA will be working on an information campaign to Congress. Either our March or April Leaflet Drop will feature guidance on how to reach your Congressional rep and a sample email to send to them. The email will have 3 key points which you can expand, edit or otherwise modify to suit your needs. 

1. Lack of US Information Strategy 

2. IO field is improperly placed under CYBERCOM 

3. Mismanagement of Army PSYOP 

Special Forces focus on MISO for Special Opns 

Is SWC the right proponent? 

TRADOC? 

Detailing issues about AC reorganization and minimization of PSYOP.

RC reorganization under CA 

Membership 

New Members during February: 

1 Life Member Upgrade 

2 new US Serving Members 

Scholarships 

Two $500 scholarships were presented to Cadet Ryder Creal and Ms. Lauren Hutchens. 

Statistics From January Leaflet Drop 

Sends: 595 

Opens: 337 (62%) 

Clicks: 26 

Unsubscribes: 0 

52 Bounces 

St Louis Chapter Update: 

Brett Cox reported that he will be attending the 10th BN’s Battle Assembly (BA) (drill) in March and sitting down with the CSM for an extended conversation on recruiting. There is a dining-in being coordinated for the October BA. More to come on that when it’s finalized. The 10th PSYOP Battalion Commander told Brett that the 10ths event needed to be better than even the 7th POG held in 2023. 

Our next virtual Board meeting is scheduled for 1900 Eastern Time, 27 March 24. If you would like to attend, let me know and I will send you a Google Meet invitation. 

All the best, 

Larry 

Lawrence D. Dietz, President 

PSYOP NEWS - FEBRUARY 2024 

21 Feb 24 

Navy building out non-kinetic effects teams 

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The Navy has built a concept for specialized teams delivering non-kinetic effects in the fleet, and there’s a plan to develop more within the next two years. 

The term “non-kinetic effects,” in Pentagon parlance, generally refers to capabilities that don’t blow up or explode such as cyber, electromagnetic spectrum, or space based tools. They have come into sharper focus in recent years and the U.S. military has sought ways to expand their use and integration as a complement to more traditional weapon systems. 

The Navy’s first cyber strategy, released in November, placed significant

importance on non-kinetic capabilities for future warfighting, stating that they will be a deciding factor and those who effectively synchronize non-kinetic effects will have a decisive advantage on the battlefield. 

https://defensescoop.com/2024/02/21/navy-non-kinetic-effects-teams clapperton/ 

15 Feb 24 

Some People Actually Kind of Love Deepfakes 

A month ago, the consulting company Accenture presented a potential client an unusual and attention-grabbing pitch for a new project. Instead of the usual slide deck, the client saw deepfakes of several real employees standing on a virtual stage, offering perfectly delivered descriptions of the project they hoped to work on. “I wanted them to meet our team,” says Renato Scaff, a senior managing director at Accenture who came up with the idea. “It’s also a way for us to differentiate ourselves from the competition.” 

The deepfakes were generated—with employees’ consent—by Touchcast, a company Accenture has invested in that offers a platform for interactive presentations featuring avatars of real or synthetic people. Touchcast’s avatars can respond to typed or spoken questions using AI models that analyze relevant information and generate answers on the fly. 

https://www.wired.com/story/ai-deepfakes-companies-executives-academics/ 

14 Feb 24 

Pacific Fleet chief sees military operating at ‘dawn of the information revolution; 

“We are in the middle of another epochal change. And that is the dawn — and I do mean the dawn — of the information revolution,” Adm. Samuel Paparo said Wednesay at the annual WEST conference. “Who competes best in this, who adapts better, who is better able to combine data, computing power, AI — and who could win the first battle, likely in space, cyber and the information domain — shall prevail.” 

Paparo has been nominated to serve as the next commander of Indo-Pacific Command, where he would lead all joint forces in the region and play a pivotal role in any military conflict against the People’s Liberation Army or other U.S. adversaries. 

https://defensescoop.com/2024/02/14/paparo-pacific-fleet-indopacom information-revolution/ 

12 Feb 24 

The Kremlin’s Efforts to Spread Deadly Disinformation in Africa 

Today, the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center is exposing Russia’s intelligence services for providing material support and guidance to “African Initiative,” a new information agency focused on Africa-Russia relations that has spread disinformation regarding the United States and European countries. The Kremlin’s disinformation campaign in Africa: 

In addition to its own staff, African Initiative recruits African journalists, bloggers, and members of local publics to support and amplify the organization’s work of bolstering Russia’s image and denigrating that of other countries. 

One of African Initiative’s first major campaigns is to target U.S. and Western health initiatives in Africa with dangerous health-related disinformation. The campaign seeks to undermine U.S.-funded public health projects across Africa

beginning with disinformation regarding an outbreak of a mosquito-borne viral disease. 

From there, conspiracies will be spread about Western pharmaceutical corporations, health-focused philanthropic efforts, and the spread of disease in West and East Africa. 

https://www.state.gov/the-kremlins-efforts-to-spread-deadly-disinformation-in africa/ 

9 Feb 24 

Just in: US Special Operators ‘Gobbling Up’ Lessons Learned in Ukraine, Gaza 

SOCOM is “absolutely gobbling up any lessons learned we can from” the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Army Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of Special Operations Command, told reporters during a Defense Writers Group event Feb. 9. 

“We’re absolutely interested in how an electronic warfare environment we see — very contested environment in particular in Ukraine — affects those and what that means for tactics, techniques and procedures in the future. I think we're always interested in a unique environment that might have tunnels and subterranean locations that we would have to operate in as that is not only in Gaza, but it's certainly reflected in other parts of the world that we find ourselves in,” he said. 

The command is also looking at how to do communications and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in tunnels, he said. “So, all that's really important to us as an ever-learning military, ever-learning SOCOM. And we're certainly taking full advantage of that as SOCOM and part of the [Central Command] team.” 

https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2024/2/9/socom-studying drone-electronic-warfare-in-ukraine-gaza 

8 Feb 24 

US may cut info-warfare assets as China, Russia expand influence ops 

U.S. Army information-warfare capabilities are on the chopping block as the Pentagon looks to trim special operations forces, even as China and Russia expand their own influence efforts, according to multiple individuals with direct knowledge of the Army’s future plans who spoke to Defense One. 

Service leaders are eyeing cuts to Military Information Support Operations, or MISO —perhaps better known as psychological operations—in order to spare “shooter” special operators such as Green Berets or Rangers, the individuals said. An Army spokesman did not respond before press time. 

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2024/02/exclusive-us-may-cut-info warfare-assets-china-russia-expand-influence-ops/394050/ 

8 Feb 24 

IARPA launches ReSCIND program 

On February 8, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) — the research and development arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — launched an innovative program that, for the first time, takes aim at the psychology of cyber attackers. 

The goal of Reimagining Security with Cyberpsychology-Informed Network Defenses

(ReSCIND) is to leverage attackers’ human limitations, such as innate decision making biases and cognitive vulnerabilities, to disrupt their attacks. While attackers take advantage of human errors, most cyber defenses do not similarly exploit attackers’ cognitive weaknesses — ReSCIND strives to flip this paradigm. By combining traditional cybersecurity practices with the emerging field of cyberpsychology, IARPA is set to engineer a first-of-its-kind cyber technology that makes an attacker’s job that much harder. 

https://intelligencecommunitynews.com/iarpa-launches-rescind-program/ 

6 Feb 24 

Army picks deploying units to test electronic, cyber and drone warfare ARLINGTON, Va. – The Army will select brigades to experiment with networks, cyber, electromagnetic warfare, small drones and loitering munitions while on overseas deployments as the service seeks to strike the right balance for these rapidly evolving tools. 

Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Randy George repeatedly emphasized the push, dubbed “transforming in contact” as a new way to experiment in realistic scenarios and get “bottom-up” feedback from soldiers and units during a Tuesday event at the Association of the U.S. Army headquarters. 

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2024/02/06/army-picks deploying-units-to-test-electronic-cyber-and-drone-warfare/ 

6 Feb 24 

Special Operations Force Structure: Strategic Calculus or Organization Power? 

Despite its pivotal role in creating Army special operations as it is known today, psychological operations has since been pushed to the bottom of the special operations hierarchy. In our decades of combined experience working in and researching special operations, irregular warfare, and military strategy, we have witnessed psychological operations and civil affairs’ continued relegation in the special operations hierarchy. In a time when U.S. competitors are investing heavily in information and influence operations, Army Special Operations Command plans to reduce these branches and further subordinate them to other parts of special operations. This would be a mistake. 

https://warontherocks.com/2024/02/special-operations-force-structure strategic-calculus-or-organizational-power/ 

2 Feb 24 

Top Army’s generals for cyber, space and special operations convent for Triad Partnership 

PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. – The Army’s top generals for cyber, space and special operations forces met to discuss the Triad partnership and how they can further develop, operationalize and institutionalize the collaboration. 

Commanding Generals Lt. Gen. Maria B. Barrett, U.S. Army Cyber Command; and Lt. Gen. Jonathon P. Braga, U.S. Army Special Operations Command; and Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, met Jan. 31 for the third Triad 3-Star General Officer Steering Committee at USASMDC

headquarters at Peterson Space Force Base. 

Members of the GOSC emphasized the importance of the Triad due to the ever changing character of warfare. Along with this evolution, the threats and the nature of deterrence are changing for the United States. The Triad looks to develop innovative and comprehensive solutions. 

“The Cyber-Space-SOF Triad provides one of these solutions,” Braga said. “It is a ‘Modern-Day Triad’ designed to converge unique accesses, capabilities, authorities, understanding, and effects in many of the same ways we have implemented combined arms operations. Additionally, the Triad provides operational and strategic advantage during active campaigning, crisis and conflict, while presenting options to senior leaders that are less escalatory than current strategic deterrence options.” 

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/463016/top-armys-generals-cyber-space-and special-operations-convene-triad-partnership 

26 Jan 24 

What is PSYOP Assessment and Selection Like? 

An ominous but motivational recruiting video titled “Ghosts in the Machine” rocked the internet in May 2022. Was it simply a recruiting effort for the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne)? Or a capabilities demonstration with an eye toward 

enemies of the United States? Either way, the video is well-crafted and thought provoking — a masterclass in the art of psychological operations, courtesy of those who have made it through Psychological Operations (PSYOP) Assessment and Selection. 

Like many other special operations forces, soldiers must make it through a physically and mentally demanding training pipeline that starts with a grueling assessment and selection before they enter the ranks of PSYOP. https://taskandpurpose.com/military-life/army-psyop-assessment-selection/ 23 Jan 24 

Russian Information Warfare Strategy: New Translation Gives Insights into Vulnerabilities 

Executive Summary 

Recognizing and responding to Russian Operations in the Information Environment (OIE) requires understanding the strategic intent behind their information warfare strategy. First, this IWC Insights will begin by examining a past example of Russian OIE and how the West responded. Second, the article analyzes how the Western understanding of Russian information warfare strategy has evolved over time, as well as some misconceptions about it that have pervaded. Third, it analyzes some of the key concepts raised in a translated article from Russia on information warfare, and how they can be connected to ongoing events in Ukraine. Finally, it will briefly discuss some potential vulnerabilities in Russia’s information warfare approach and how they can be taken advantage of to counter such strategies. As revealed in the translated article, Russia’s information warfare capabilities are reactive to Western OIE approaches and, therefore, may be vulnerable to new Western initiatives. https://irregularwarfarecenter.org/publications/insights/russian-information warfare-strategy/ 

31 Jan 2024

The World’s 10 Most Important Top Secret Buildings 

Some of the world’s most important buildings have only been seen by a relatively small number of people. In other words, they are top secret buildings. Many of these locations house the headquarters of intelligence agencies, holding miles of classified documents and government secrets within their walls, or remain accessible only to scientists and researchers to protect the valuable contents. Agencies have taken drastically different approaches to the constriction of their secretive sites–some are hidden away from the public eye, while others stand out in the skyline of the city. From the doughnut-shaped headquarters of Britain’s GCHQ to a military command center tucked away in a Colorado mountain, the world’s most top secret buildings have histories as fascinating as what goes on inside of them. 

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/worlds-most-important-top-secret buildings 

January 2024 

How Ukraine fights russian disinformation: Beehive vs mammoth This Hybrid CoE Research Report, a joint effort with the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), focuses on Ukrainian best practices in counter- ing disinformation, mainly in the period follow-ing Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion (FSI) of Ukraine. However, many of these practices are the result of an evolution spanning the decade since the Euromaidan revolution. The report identifies the following ten lessons that the West could learn from the unique Ukrainian experience. 

https://www.hybridcoe.fi/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240124-Hybrid-CoE Research-Report-11-How-UKR-fights-RUS-disinfo-WEB.pdf 

Member Contributions 

17 Feb 24 

Life of a Song 

Bei Mir Bist du Schön — curious story of The Andrews Sisters’ 1937 hit 

Adapted from a Yiddish musical comedy number, the track became a sensation — and was used by the Nazi propaganda machine 

The Andrews Sisters recorded ‘Bei Mir Bist du Schön’ as a B-side © Bettmann Archive Share on Twitter. Opens in a new window. 

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Nicole Waldner FEBRUARY 17 2024 

In 1937 The Andrews Sisters were a little-known trio of close-harmony singers from Minneapolis looking to make a name for themselves. They had recorded a cover of the Gershwins’ “Nice Work If You Can Get It” for the Decca label, but a B-side was needed. The improbably titled “Bei Mir Bist du Schön” was chosen, meaning “To me you’re beautiful” in German. 

The jaunty, romcom lyrics, written by Tin Pan Alley wizards Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, had just the right amount of

sass and verve: “Of all the boys I’ve known, and I’ve known some/Until I first met you, I was lonesome/I could say bella, bella, even sehr wunderbar/Each language only helps me tell you how grand you are.” 

Arranged by Vic Schoen as an exuberant swing number, it became an overnight sensation. Record stores across the US were inundated with requests for that record called “My 

Mere Bits of Shame” or “Buy a Beer, Mr Shane”. “Bei Mir” had its roots in a Yiddish song, “Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn”, composed by Sholom Secunda in 1932, with lyrics by Jacob Jacobs. It was written for the Yiddish musical comedy I Would If I Could, which closed after a single season at the Parkway Theatre in Brooklyn. The lyrics included such dulcet lines as: “And even if you had a little limp/Or had wooden legs/I would say, ‘It doesn’t bother me.’” 

At the time, New York was home to more than 2mn Yiddish speakers, and the centre of that world was on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where bustling theatres and cabarets put on as many as 30 shows a night. In 1936, Secunda and Jacobs sold the song to the Kammen Brothers Music Company for $30. With its new Germanised title and (mostly) English lyrics, “Bei Mir Bist du Schön” would go on to gross upwards of $3mn dollars. 

https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/bei-mir 

bist.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CBei%20Mir%E2%80%9D %20had%20its%20roots,the%20Parkway%20Theatre%2 0in%20Brooklyn. 

Waldeck - Bei mir bist Du schön (Official Video) 

Bay mir bistu sheyn (To Me You Are Beautiful) Recording Session Janis Siegel - Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen 

Composer Sholom Secunda at the piano with his son Sheldon© Ray Fisher/Getty Images In the late 1930s dozens of covers were recorded by big names such as Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Guy Lombardo; probably the best known was Benny Goodman’s big band arrangement, with the sublime Martha Tilton on vocals. Goodman’s recording was immortalised on his seminal album The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert. 

“Bei Mir” also featured in Hollywood films, including Swing! from 1938, by pioneering director Oscar Micheaux. Before long it had crossed the Atlantic and was translated into

languages including French, Swedish, Norwegian and Polish. The song’s reception in Nazi Germany in 1938, where it also became a smash hit, remains a testament to swing music’s electrifying energy. 

With its novel title, German radio quickly picked up on the song. Although propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels had decreed that jazz and swing were “degenerate”, it would prove impossible to shut them down because they were so popular with civilians and troops. In the case of “Bei Mir”, however, a ban was immediately put into place after the embarrassing discovery of its Yiddish origins. 

But the song was then hijacked by Goebbels’ music propaganda machine, Charlie and His Orchestra, which would pump popular jazz songs, including “Bei Mir”, back into allied airwaves, but repurposed with lurid fascist lyrics: “Our land is bella, bella, it will soon be the world/Because in London and in New York the red flags unfurled.” After the war, when the song’s rights eventually reverted to Secunda in 1961, the composer created a new musical named after his biggest hit, but by then the thriving prewar Yiddish theatres were largely shuttered and swing had given way to bebop and rock’n’roll. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, “Bei Mir” would be given new wings, helped by a renaissance of the Yiddish language and klezmer music. In 1993 a cover by Janis Siegel featured in the soundtrack to Thomas Carter’s film Swing Kids, which explores swing music under Nazism. Simon Spiro’s 2001 Yiddish recording with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra beautifully captures the gentle playfulness of Secunda’s showtune. 

In the 21st century covers have proliferated. The Hot Sardines amp up the dance in their 2014 hot swing cover, while Bette Midler’s take (also 2014) is joyously retro. Electro-swing versions by Klaus Waldeck (2007) and Duo Stiehler/Lucaciu (2023) fuse electronic dance music with old-fashioned swing, a musical coupling that would surely delight the original songwriters. 

True to the exuberant spirit of its crossover origins, “Bei Mir” still sounds fresh today. Nearly a century on, it reminds us that nothing ages quite so well as unabashed joie de vivre. Let us know your memories of ‘Bei Mir Bist du Schön’ in the

comments section below 

The paperback edition of ‘The Life of a Song: The stories behind 100 of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Chambers Music credits: Geffen; ATF Media; M.A.T.; Kenzo; The Restoration Project; Universal; East West/Warner; Sandra Ludewig 

Waldeck - Bei mir bist Du schön (Official Video) 

Bay mir bistu sheyn (To Me You Are Beautiful) Recording Session Janis Siegel - Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen 

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