Why Strategic Communications is Like Porn

 

Over the past few years there have been a number of ongoing debates about what is Strategic Communications. In fact, some have even confused the term Public Diplomacy with Strategic Communications.

 

I think that the US Supreme Court Case Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964), wherein Justice Potter Stewart in attempting to explain what is obscene said “"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced... [b]ut I know it when I see it ..." (see: https://bit.ly/39UEYyC) is a pretty good definition of strategic communication.

 

For those of you interested in a more formal definition of the two, one of my graduate students defined strategic communication as “the purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill its mission” (Source: “Defining Strategic Communication.” International Journal of Strategic Communication 1, no. 1 (2007): 3–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/15531180701285244)

 

She went on to define public diplomacy as “the transparent means by which a sovereign country communicated with publics in other countries aimed at informing and influencing audiences overseas for the purposes of promoting the national interest and advancing of its foreign policy goals” (“What Is PD?: USC Center on Public Diplomacy.” Accessed November 2, 2020. https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/page/what-is-pd.)

 

In practical terms, strategic communication means taking a whole of government information approach to employing alternative information channels to help accomplish the goals of your government.

 

Case in point – the Chinese government would very much like to disassociate the People’s Republic of China with the pandemic.

 

On December 6, 2020, the NY Times On Line Version published an article: China Peddles Falsehoods to Obscure Origin of Covid Pandemic (see: https://nyti.ms/3mZPI26, which is also a photo source). The December 7^th print version title was “Propaganda Machine Muddies Virus’s Origin” which I think is much better.

 

The Chinese government is fostering alternative theories about the origin of the virus to include the notion that it originated from packaged frozen food sent to China from elsewhere. Another tactic was to quote a German scientist out of context giving the appearance that the scientist (Alexander Kekule, director for the Institute for Biosecurity Research in Halle, Germany) believed the origin was Italy.

 

Dr. Kekule has tried to refute the Chinese efforts, but alas it was two lates. According to the Times “Thousands of people were sharing state media articles about his research, leaving comments such as, “A billion people in China thank you!” and “There are not many scientists who dare tell the truth. A simple phrase appeared in red writing above Dr. Kekulé’s face in a meme that circulated online: “Not Wuhan.””

In going on the offensive, Xi Jingping has argued that China’s success in containing the virus is clear proof of the superiority of their form of government.

We hope that all y’all out there are taking good care of yourselves and maintaining your sanity. For my reading I’ve added the PSYOP Leader’s Planning Guide from Thuls. If anyone has had any experience with that guide – can you please let me know.

If we don’t have another post – enjoy the Holidays!

 

 

 

 

South Park: A Leader in PSYOP Technology

 

For those of you that don’t know, South Park is a very popular cartoon comedy series. They first appeared on August 13, 1997 and are still going strong. You can watch free episodes at: https://southpark.cc.com/. On October 30, 2020 they unveiled a new projected dubbed “Sassy Justice”. You can watch it on YouTube at: https://bit.ly/3kZ59GK.

 

The project is a showcase for the creativity of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but perhaps more importantly, it is an entertaining way to understand the implications of DeepFakes. Although at 0730 on 4 November 20, the Presidential Election is still in turmoil without them.

 

The NY Times interviewed the writers and you can read the article (which is also a photo source) at: https://nyti.ms/2TSB7bT

 

Here are a couple of quotes from the article taken from the South Park website  to give you a flavor for the project:

"Before the big scary thing of coronavirus showed up, everyone was so afraid of deepfakes," Stone said. "We just wanted to make fun of it because it makes it less scary."

As Parker said, "It really is this new form of animation for people like us, who like to construct things on a shot-by-shot level and have control over every single actor and voice. It's a perfect medium for us."

On how this project differs from South Park, Trey shared:

"I always hate watching myself. Even with 'South Park,' I have a perfect image of what it's going to look like in my head all the time. But on this, there were moments where we felt like kids in our basement again."

Peter Serafinowicz plays the host character in Sassy Justice as well as a few other characters. He explains how the deepfake technology enhances impersonations on a whole new level:

"I imagine myself looking like the person that I'm doing. Now that's become real. It's like wearing the most realistic mask possible. When it works, it's just startling. It's like magic."

 

 

 

PSYOP and Magic

 

Greetings,

While I have produced PSYOPREGIMENT.BLOGSPOT for many years, however, I have written every piece.

These are, as the Chinese say, “interesting times”. I have been teaching online for American Military University for over 10 years. One of the subjects I teach is INTL 653 “Propaganda, Deception and Disinformation”, a graduate course.

One of my students, William Zaggle, addressed one of our weekly questions with a comparison of PSYOP and Magic.

I thought it was so unique and creative that I would share it with the PSYOP Community. Here is the unedited conversation.

Interestingly enough, both magic (Quiroga 2016), and CyberWar (Panayotis and Vernal 2017) have been related to being cognitive arts.  Scott’s “magic” lens into the mental world of cyber operations offers a familiar bridged analogy from magic to cyber-intelligence.  Here are a few small examples of how, when performed correctly, these operations all interweave and work together as a team to essentially form their own false realities.

Palm: Holding something you can’t see.  Hiding behind my hand, all you see is what you believe you see, an empty hand.  Far from empty.  A trojan horse by any other name. Easy enough to carry this to all of the many innocent carrier applications that move malware in the world today.  After all, it is such a cute little App, and it was FREE! It is the foundation of stealth.  Or maybe you are secretly allowed to “see” what is being palmed! Instant misdirection if you focus for too long.

Ditch, Steal, Switch: Secretly losing, obtain, or switch something such as to simulate magic. Most of cybercrime leans on these. So many clever ways to secretly establish command and control, or ditch your IP address in a maze of bot-nets, steal another and move along. These can be real, simulated, or even purposely failed if it helps to tell the story of new virtual reality where your mind has journeyed.

Simulation:  Pretending something happened that really didn’t.  A great cyber simulation magic act was performed in research by Woods and Siponen  (2018) when they fooled more than 80% of people into typing in various versions of their password (or passwords) by simply having false software tell them they typed it wrong, even when they actually typed it correctly until they tried a different password. After trying a different password, once they tried the correct password again it was accepted and users left assuming it was all their fault.  They simulated your fat-fingered password attempt and then stole your “other” passwords as your meta memory failed and you rummaged through your scattered memory looking for how that could have happened.  Mis-remembering is also a form of magic where the simulation becomes the misdirection.

Misdirection: Leading attention away from a secret move.  Decoys, False-Flags, double agents are all about deception.  Panayotis and Vernal (2017) call misdirection one of the four axioms of cyber power. They describe the required “Control” of cyberspace as being the ability to get a computer to hear secret “magic words”.

So, the magician practices and perfects his physical skills as a cyber warrior would practice and perfect his technical prowess.  The magician started with a mental lapse in human reasoning as a goal just like the cyber warrior hopes to find and exploit or defend a lapse in human reasoning (their own, or their opponents). somewhere within the man-made cyber domain. Both seek to exhibit their cognitive arts inside a zone of alter-reality, zones highly susceptible to what Mercier and Sperber (Mercier and Sperber 2017) call the enigma of reason.  Such a focused exhibition of cognitive art is either a great magic act, or possibly an act of war.

Photo Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-art-and-magic-of-harry-houdini/

William

Works Cited:

Mercier, Hugo, and Dan Sperber. 2017. The Enigma of Reason. Harvard University Press.

Panayotis, A., and David Vernal. 2017. Four Axioms of OFfensive Cyberpower. Air University. https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/CyberCollege/portal/article/Article/1208903/four-axioms-of-offensive-cyberpower/.

Quiroga, Rodrigo Quian. 2016. "Magic and cognitive neuroscience." Current Biology R390-R394. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.061.

Woods, Naomi, and Mikko Siponen. 2018. "Too many passwords? How understanding our memory can increase password memorability." International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 36-48. doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.11.002.

Even North Korea is Socializing Its Brand

 

The NY Times ran a story “North Korean Propaganda Gets a YouTube Makeover” on 12 Sep 20 online and in their Sunday, 13 September 20 print edition. (see: https://nyti.m

s/35RHLXl, which is the photo source).

 

Ironically enough, the Propaganda and Agitation Department of North Korea is responsible of creating and distributing propaganda. (See Wikipedia: https://bit.ly/3c0Nvil)

 

The new government sponsored campaigns and media are a far cry from prior generations of propaganda. According to a research at the Sejong Institute social media is a “low-cost and effective means” to disseminate its propaganda.

 

As you can see from the accompanying photos, the strategy is more modern and more personal. Rather than focus on the military parades of days of yore, the new strategy recognizes the importance of showing ‘normal’ people and personifying the regime’s messages.

 

Part of the motivation for the change has been competition from outside news and entertainment that have penetrated the North Korean efforts to isolate the country and restrict access to anything other than official positions and messages.

 

One of the classic sales techniques is to have the audience feel like they are involved. These four pictures of the Taesong Department Store in Pyongyang are meant to counter any rumors that the North is short of food or creature comforts. Shoppers are looking for kimchi instant noodles and soju, the popular Korean liquor.

 

Previously the North Koreans relied on a single medium – the Korean Central News Agency. Now they are able to create a variety of channels on YouTube that are each able to garner subscribers. For example, the Echo of Truth channel was created in 2017 and boasts almost 25,000 subscribers.

 

Of course, even this new and improved methodology is not perfect. The physical locations are all in the capital, Pyongang and sometimes the pictures tell a different story without intending to do so.

 

Take this picture of the commuters. Look at the size of the station and the small number of people. Of course, I’m a native New Yorker, so my perception of crowded commuter stations might be different than most.

 

Shim Jin-sup, A retired South Korean Army PSYOP Officer summed the performance by one of the commentators “She is another parrot repeating the message form the Worker’s Party.

 

Alpha Human PodCast on PSYOP, IO and Cyberspace Operations

 

I just finished recording a podcast with Lawrence Rosenberg on PSYOP, Information Operations (IO) and cyberspace operations. You can find the video version at: https://bit.ly/31WpPIx

 And the audio version at: https://bit.ly/3gSe1Lv

 

It runs about an hour and 20 minutes.

 

Enjoy!

 

Fake News As a Tactical Multiplier

 

It’s no secret that the US Army is moving troops from Germany to Poland. Besides the Germans who will take a major economic hit because of the move, there are others who do not want the Poles and the US to get chummy.

 

In June 2020 there were a number of articles addressing “Poland hit by wave of fake news’ ahead of major military exercise with US” One such article was posted on 1 June 2020 by Kafkadesk (see: https://bit.ly/2YupScD, which is a photo source). According to the article:

 

“According to the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes, hackers used “cyberattack tools” to post fake content on various news websites, including prominent Polish media groups.

“The attack coincided with the beginning of the next phase of the Defender Europe-20 military exercise hosted by Poland,” Polish government spokesman Stanislaw Zaryn allegedly said in a lengthy statement Thursday, in which he blamed Moscow.

Fake news and disinformation campaign

Among the fake news reports was a fabricated interview with U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Christopher Cavoli, which was published by Gazeta Polska, one of Poland’s popular conservative newspapers, notorious for spreading disinformation, and then picked up by other sites, including Poland Daily.”

 

 

A more recent and focused article appeared on “InMilitary.com”, an online publication of American University. (see: https://bit.ly/2FC8E6p) this article focused on a meticulously crafted fake story about an soldier indicating that the soldier had killed a Polish soldier, stole a car and was at large. What made the story so interesting was the research behind it. The enemy had found a real soldier with a real unit in a deployed situation.

The article from InMilitary goes on to describe the information operations actions taken by the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force to counter this new battlefield threat.

It would appear that the threat is consider a cyber one so that a growing cadre of digital warriors is being assembled to counter the threat. One interesting approach is being taken by the Marine Corps who established the II MEF Information Group. Within that group is a COMMSTRAT company whose mission is:

II MIG COMMSTRAT supports the MAGTF commander through informing domestic and international audiences, conducting information environment battlespace awareness, providing task-organized COMMSTRAT capabilities in order to enhance the MAGTF’s ability to maneuver in a complex and contested operating environment. (See: https://bit.ly/316dWiJ)

 

To the casual observer it would appear that the ability to influence is being absorbed into the greater information world and be subsumed by its cyber cousins, much like a python eating a rat.

 

Am I missing something? You tell me.

Deepfakes and Artificial Intelligence: PSYOP’s Now Frontier

We are still caught in the grip of the Covid-19 Pandemic and many of us are tethered to our computers. Whether its remote working or online education, Netflix or FaceBook – we’re checking out all sorts of material. Naturally much of it is video based.

I have posted about the attraction of video and how smartphones are a key international delivery vehicle for video on Social Media and elsewhere.

If you ever tried to produce your own video like I have for my online training courses, you know it is a labor and time intensive process. If you are trying to produce a commercial grade product, this can be time consuming, expensive and daunting.

 

Enter artificial intelligence and the concept of deepfakes. CNBC defined deepfakes as “Deepfakes refer to manipulated videos, or other digital representations produced by sophisticated artificial intelligence, that yield fabricated images and sounds that appear to be real.” (see: https://cnb.cx/3eTzDGE which is a photo source).

 

Wired magazine July 7, 202 ran an article “Deepfakes Are Becoming the Hot New Corporate Training Tool” (see: https://bit.ly/2WDP0wh, which is also a photo source). The rationale is that it is cheaper to produce ‘synthetic’ videos than ‘real ones’.

Just as you can buy click art or images for reuse, you can acquire AI content and tools. The article talks about one company, Rosebud AI (another photo source) will provide you with virtual models. I hope some of you at least appreciate the Orson Welle’s reference here, if not then checkout: https://bit.ly/32GYACu.

Of course, creative types, like PSYOPers could integrate real and synthetic material. With the recent unrest across the country, police body camera footage could provide a great source of material for our adversaries. Wondering about how to get police bodycams – check out: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (see: https://bit.ly/2WDJHgi, another photo source).

Bodycams could provide the kind of shocking footage that adversaries love to use to show what America is really about. A simple Google search will yield quite a few samples like this one: https://bit.ly/32CegXA.

Of course, if the bodycam footage isn’t dramatic enough – you can always make your own deepfake.

As always reader comments encouraged.

Take good care out there!

Low Tech PSYOP Works Too!

The June 12, 2020 print edition of the NY Times ran an article “Floating Propaganda Irks North Korea. The South is Not Pleased Either” (See: https://nyti.ms/3hBH0oD, which is also a photo source)

 

I have had many postings about high tech PSYOP. Cyber Influence, Social media, etc. Isn’t it great to see those ‘oldies but goodies’. The recent tension between North and South Korea has reached unprecedented high levels with North Korea destroying the office where joint talks used to take place. (see: https://bit.ly/30OD0v3.)

Over the years tens of millions of leaflets have been used by both sides to try and influence the other. The humble leaflet has quite a history on the Korean peninsula and even has its own Remembrances Museum (see: https://nyti.ms/37FWnI3, also a photo source). 

How can such old technology be effective you ask? According to the article, Mr. Kim of North Korea regarded the leaflets as a “provocation graver than gun and artillery fire”.

What makes the recent incident even more interesting is the fact that the Republic of Korea (R

OK) is also unhappy about these ‘attacks’ and will introduce legislation to ban the launches as a way of trying to appease the North.

As often happens with leaflets, the property in their path is often inundated with offending leaflets resulting in a nuisance of trash. This particular batch which was dropped on May 31 amounted to about 500,000 leaflets alone.  

Clearly the leaflet is still chugging along, doing its influence job and going where even the latest technology cannot.

As always, reader comments are invited.

The PSYOP of Riots

Mission High School, San Francisco, CA

 PSYOP is a powerful weapon and can be very effective on both sides of the riot equation: offense and defense.

We have all seen the pictures and videos of demonstrations protesting the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN. This picture is from the San Jose (California) Mercury News at: https://bayareane.ws/3eQqfE4. The use of PSYOP on the offensive side of rioting is quite a bit easier than on the defensive side.

 

First of all, you have a vulnerable target audience. In this case, almost two months of draconian Shelter at Home orders have fueled a caged in mentality. Add to that the frustration of years of perceived injustice and touch it off with a shocking incident and you have a proven receipt for violence.

Messaging is designed to inflame the beliefs of the target audience and push them over the edge. Messaging repeats and reinforces what they already believe. Messaging is simple: you are right to be angry and justified in your actions because you have been badly wronged.

 

San Francisco, CA 2 June 2020

Riots can also be influenced indirectly through proxies. Media reports such as CNN reported on May 31, 2020: “What we do and don’t know about the extremists taking part in riots across the US” (see: https://cnn.it/3gRPDeg) Foreign actors and domestic agitators are taking advantage of the current situation to accomplish their own goals directly by taking part or indirectly by providing funding and other resources.

Indirect incitement through social media is another PSYOP tactic. The Havok Journal, one of my favorite military sources ran an article on June 2, 2020, “We are the Useful Idiots” How Our Nation Divided is Playing Straight into the Hands of Our Greatest Enemies” (see: https://bit.ly/2AC1psz) This quote from the article pretty much sums it up:

“There are foreign intelligence agencies that are seeking to divide and conquer our country from within by turning us against each other and then fanning the flames. Russia, North Korea, Iran, China…None of this is theory or hearsay. It is concrete fact, it happens every day, it is exacerbated by the internet, and we are fueling it.”

Redwood City, CA Police Officer Takes a Knee

Playing PSYOP defense in riots is harder, but it can be done. Giving credit where credit is due, a Redwood City (CA) Police Officer took a knee then hugged a protestor successfully defusing a situation that threated to escalate on to Route 101, one of the area’s busiest freeways.

As a force, military PSYOP (Military Information Support Operations/MISO) can be used in support of Civil Military Affairs. Joint Publication 3-57 Civil Military Affairs, Figure II-1 lists MISO as an Enabler. Of course,  deployment of US Military domestically is fraught with complex political and legal complications. The key point is that military PSYOP/MISO can be an effectiveness multiplier in times of nature disaster or domestic turmoil.

Note another photo source: https://bit.ly/3dxPsmt

China's Disinformation is not as important as Economic Blackmail as an Influence Weapon

It is often said that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” China has been in the forefront of the Covad-19 pandemic. The press has widely covered allegations of Chinese efforts to disinform the American public by providing false information about the virus and by trying to foment panic.

Two articles chronicling the disinformation campaigns are: Chinese Agents Helped Spread Messages That Sowed Virus Panic in U.S., Officials Say, NY Times, April 22, 2020 (see: https://nyti.ms/2Y555gb, which is a photo source and China’s Disinformation Addiction: Spreading Disinformation on COVID-19, April 25, 2020 ClearanceJobs (see: https://bit.ly/3bFwCJd, also a photo source).

According to the NY Times, “American officials were alarmed by fake text messages and social media posts that said President Trump was locking down the country. Experts see a convergence with Russian tactics.” The Times added “The messages became so widespread over 48 hours that the White House’s National Security Council issued an announcement via Twitter that they were “FAKE.”.

The Clearance Job article concluded by saying “None of this is really a surprise as China struggles to save face as the world looks to the country for answers to very hard questions. China would much rather have the world think the United States was about to impose martial law than to have their own actions dissected.” That article also quotes a March 2019 report from the Department of State “Weapons of Mass Distraction Foreign State Sponsored Disinformation in the Digital Age (pdf)” the portion on China minces no words. They assert that China’s efforts are designed to influence economic, political and foster personal relationships.”

While these offensive efforts are certainly concerning, perhaps we should pay more attention to the way China burnishes their brand in other ways. China, more than any other country seems to have grasped the concept of offensive and defensive influence operations. This is demonstrated by way that they pressure economic partners to give their image a break and on the other, they strive to disorient their adversaries.

The movie character Jerry McGuire said it best “Show me the money!” (see: https://bit.ly/2yRWrqA (You Tube clip and photo source)

The NY Times, April 24, 2020: ran an article “Pressured by China, E.U. Softens Report on Covid-19 Disinformation” (see: https://nyti.ms/2KzFvrI and a photo source.) In what is clearly a measure of effectiveness, according to the Times, “Bowing to heavy pressure from Beijing, European Union officials softened their criticism of China this week in a report documenting how governments push disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, according to documents, emails and interviews.”

The Chinese recognize the importance of brand management and economic leverage. They employ a whole of government approach to move their country’s agenda forward.

Can we say the same?

Zoombombing As PSYOP

We’re all confined to quarters thanks to Covid-19. As a result, we have turned to video collaboration platforms such as Cisco WebEx, Adobe Connect, Citrix Go To Meeting MicroSoft Team, GoogleHangout and of course, Zoom.

On March 20, 2020 the New York Times ran an article ‘Zoombombing’:when Video Conferences Go Wrong (see: https://nyti.ms/2XoqJM3, which is also a photo source).

They reported among other things that “On Friday , the journalists Kara Swisher (a contributing writer for the Opinion section of The New York Times) and Jessica Lessin hosted a Zoom event focused on the challenges women tech founders face. They were forced to abruptly end the event after just 15 minutes of conversation because a participant began broadcasting the shock video “2 Girls 1 Cup.”

“Our video call was just attacked by someone who kept sharing pornography + switching between different user accounts so we could not block them,” Ms. Lessin tweeted, adding that she and Ms. Swisher would reschedule an audio-only version of the event.”

Unscrupulous influencers are also moving to online platforms as a way to attack their targets. One such Zoom bombing was against Portland State University. The Portland State (Oregon)

Student run newspaper, the Vanguard was hacked by neo-nazis. (see: https://bit.ly/2K5Kq3z, which is also a photo source). According to the Vanguard, “The hackers interrupted speakers with racist invective and ties to Nazism.”

According to the UT based DesertNews (a subsidiary of the Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), “It’s happened for virtual Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in New York. It’s happened in Boston. It’s happened in workplaces and schools in California and Texas. It’s happening everywhere.” (see: https://bit.ly/3c9Xlxl, which is a photo source and responsible for the hotlinks in the quotes. The article continued that “Trolls have entered into Zoom meetings to drop “disturbing imagery,” like pornographic material and “horrifying sexual videos,” TechCrunch reported”

From the variety of targets, it should be obvious to PSYOPers that these PSYACTs are having an effect. People are stuck in their homes due to shelter in place orders and are somewhat of a captive audience.

Meanwhile Zoom is scrambling to keep up with the burgeoning demand for their product and to upgrade their product’s security.

At the moment, Zoombombing is easy to do. In some respects its like phishing in the ‘old days’, meaning designed to troll for unspecified victims. Many organizations, especially non-profits, schools and others new to video conferencing employ unprotected links which can be unearthed in a variety of simple ways.

As these links are secured, it is reasonable to assume that Zoombombers will start to employ spear phishing like techniques meaning that they will attack specific, high value targets.

OPSEC folks and Counterintelligence specialists need to be vigilant as to Zoombombing efforts and coordinate with their respective PSYOP support elements to help facilitate the counter propaganda analysis and perhaps even offensive cyber influence campaigns employing this new influence vehicle.

If you are interested in how to protect yourself, here’s an article from techrepublic.com that offers 5 simple tips on preventing Zoombombing.