POVA Leaflet Drop March 2024

 

POVA LEAFLET DROP - March 2024 

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 

Greetings Fellow PSYOPers! 

The monthly meeting of the POVA Board of Directors was held at 1900 Eastern Time on 27 March 2024. Attending were: Brett Cox, Larry Dietz, Oscar Malave, Jesse Manning, and Dan Woods. 

State of the Force 

The Board discussed the urgent need to provide Congress with additional information about: 

1. The lack of an overall Information Strategy. 

2. Information Operations is in the wrong organizational place and fragmented 3. Mismanagement of the PSYOP/MISO workforce. 

As it turns out, on March 25, 2024, the DOD Inspector General released its report: Evaluation of the DoD Military Information Support Operations Workforce (DODIG-2024-068). 

According to the official press release, the objective of this evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of the DoD’s recruitment, training, and retention of military personnel conducting Military Information Support Operations (MISO). The Press Release went on to say: 

“The report found that Army PSYOP forces face structural and capacity challenges within the active and reserve components. The report also found that these challenges can be traced back to the Army not comprehensively analyzing the issues affecting its active and reserve MISO workforce in over 20 years. Lastly, the report found that the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness has not monitored and reported on the growth and sustainment of the DoD’s overall Information Operations workforce, including Army PSYOP forces, as required by DoD policy. 

As a result of these gaps, Army PSYOP units will remain understaffed and unable to meet a growing global demand for MISO. Moreover, the high operational tempo required of this already under-resourced force risks burnout

of Army PSYOP personnel.” 

As the “Voice of the PSYOP Soldier”, POVA will be analyzing this report and providing an analysis in our next Leaflet Drop. We will also provide some tools for members to contact their representatives in Congress. 

If you have any experience or thoughts on this matter, please send me an email at dietz.pova@gmail.com. 

Membership 

New Members enrolled: 

1 Two Year Member 

1 Serving Member 

Scholarships 

We would like to present another round of scholarships for the Fall 2024 term. However, we cannot do that without appropriate funding.. All donations to POVA for scholarships will be used for that purpose. We need your help. If you can, donate personally. 

Perhaps you know vendors to the PSYOP/MISO community or other organizations that would like to support scholarships and other efforts. We want to support our soldiers, but cannot do that without financial resources. 

Statistics From January Leaflet Drop 

Sends: 599 

Opens: 351 (64%) 

Clicks: 16 

Unsubscribes: 0 

50 Bounces 

St Louis Chapter Update 

Brett Cox has been working with the 10th POB. For those of you in the area, they are planning a Dining in on 26 October. Brett and the St. Louis Chapter will be supporting the BN in its efforts. 

Next Meeting 

Our next virtual Board meeting is scheduled for 1900 Eastern Time, 17 April 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 - MARCH 2024

25 Mar 24 

Moscow theater shooting fans flames of a disinformation war 

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Flames were still leaping from the Moscow concert hall besieged by gunmen when Russian officials began suggesting who was really to blame. They presented no evidence, only aspersions and suspicion and counterfactual speculation, but in Russia’s eyes the culprit was clear: Ukraine. The allegations that Ukraine, now in its third year of fighting after Russia invaded, was behind Friday’s attack that killed at least 137 people, were the first salvo in a disinformation war that has clouded the hearts and minds of people trying to come to grips with the shocking attack. 

First came Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president who was once regarded as a mild reformer but who has become a vehement hawk since the start of the Ukraine war. 

https://apnews.com/article/moscow-shooting-russia-disinformation-war 4a64c9726f5e711e9c08e77a1d4000bc? 

user_email=ac98ac2759633983e679cb1dfba90995157dcc8c1f47e1e5dd9a5d34092 1caae 

22 Mar 24 

‘Extremely concern’: American generals raise alarm over Iran’s tightening ties with Russia, China 

BEIRUT — As wars rage in Gaza and Ukraine, senior US military officials sounded the alarm to lawmakers about the renewed relationships between China, Russia and Iran in both the Middle East and Africa, suggesting alliances of geopolitical convenience intertwining the three could threaten America’s position in both regions. 

“I’m very concerned about this renewed relationship between Russia, China and Iran,” US Central Command head Gen. Michael Kurilla told a House Armed Services hearing Thursday. “What we’re seeing is Iran is reliant on China and Russia is reliant on Iran.” 

Kurilla explained that China buys “90 percent” of Iran’s oil, which is sanctioned by the US. In return, China uses Iran’s influence as part of an effort to “replace the US as one of the dominant forces in the Middle East.” 

“So in effect, China is funding Iran’s subversive and malign behavior in the region,” he said. 

https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/extremely-concerned-american-generals raise-alarm-over-irans-tightening-ties-with-russia-china/? 

utm_campaign=BD%20Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=299676894&_hsenc=p 2ANqtz--w8zuC 

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21 Mar 24 

Internal Docs Show Entire Intelligence Community Warned to Avoid ‘Problematic Phrases’ On Islamic Terrorism 

The below story is the second part of a series on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s DEI newsletter, “The Dive.” You can read part one, “Biden’s Top Intelligence Agency Says Crossdressing Makes Man ‘Better Intelligence

Officer,’ Internal Docs Show,” here. 

An internal newsletter sent by diversity, equity, and inclusion officials in the Biden administration’s top intelligence agency warns personnel not to use “problematic phrases” when discussing Islamic terrorism and foreign adversaries such as China, an internal document obtained by The Daily Wire reveals. 

The unclassified newsletter from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, called “The Dive” and exclusively obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Daily Wire, argues in its cover story that the intelligence community needs to focus on “changing terminology related to counterterrorism,” because “words matter.” 

“This article is about one of our goals: disentangling Islam from words and phrases used to discuss terrorism and extremist violence,” writes the author of the article, whose name was redacted from the document released to The Daily Wire. The article declares that it’s trying to remove “certain phrases to identify international terrorism threats that are hurtful to Muslim-Americans.” 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/internal-docs-show-entire-intelligence community-warned-to-avoid-problematic-phrases-on-islamic-terrorism 

21 Mar 24 

SOF Leaders Testify Before Congress 

Leaders of the U.S. special operations community testified in Washington, D.C. before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, in open and classified sessions. Chris Maier, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations / Low Intensity Conflict (ASD SO/LIC) and General Bryan Fenton the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) provided opening statements and answered questions posed by the members of the subcommittee. 

Leaders of the U.S. special operations community testified in Washington, D.C. before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, in open and classified sessions. Chris Maier, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations / Low Intensity Conflict (ASD SO/LIC) and General Bryan Fenton the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) provided opening statements and answered questions posed by the members of the subcommittee. 

https://sof.news/ussocom/sof-leaders-testify-before-congress-march-2024/ 

20 Mar 24 

FBI resumes outreach to social media companies over foreign propaganda The FBI has resumed some of its efforts to share information with some American tech companies about foreign propagandists using their platforms after it ceased contact for more than half a year, multiple people familiar with the matter told NBC News. 

The program, established during the Trump administration, briefed tech giants like Microsoft, Google and Meta when the U.S. intelligence community found evidence of covert influence operations using their products to mislead Americans. It was put on hold this summer in the wake of a lawsuit that accused the U.S. government of improperly pressuring tech companies about how to moderate their sites and an aggressive inquisition from the House Judiciary Committee and its chair, Jim Jordan,

R-Ohio. 

The lawsuit, filed by the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri, awaits a ruling from the Supreme Court. A majority of justices appeared skeptical of the suit when they heard its claims, and the court is scheduled to rule on the suit at the end of June. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/fbi-social-media-facebook-twitter-x meetings-briefings-jordan-rcna144289 

13 Mar 24 

Evidence of Russian Cyber Operations Could Bolster New ICC Arrest Warrants Last March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for the deportation and unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children. Last week, nearly a year later, the court issued two more arrest warrants resulting from the Office of the Prosecutor’s investigation into the “situation in Ukraine.” Both warrants concern Russian attacks against Ukraine’s power plants and substations that occurred between October 2022 and March 2023, in the depth of winter. The decision to prioritize crimes against civilian objects over atrocities like the torture and killing of civilians in Bucha and Mariupol is notable, as it recognizes the direct, grave, and lasting harm caused to the civilian population by the destruction of critical energy infrastructure. The charges alleged against Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash, a lieutenant general in the Russian Armed Forces, and Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov, an admiral in the Russian Navy, include three crimes under the Rome Statute: (a) the war crime of directing attacks at civilian objects, (b) the war crime of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects, and (c) the crime against humanity of inhumane acts. The war crime of directing attacks against civilian objects has been traditionally hard to prove, since it requires evidence of the perpetrator’s knowledge and intent, which often must be inferred from actions in the midst of battle. The destruction of civilian objects alone is insufficient to make such an inference, since suspects can always proffer the defense that the damaged structure was not the intended target. However, as cyber operations are increasingly used to enable military actions, new forms of digital data could provide valuable insights into the state of mind behind such targeting. 

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/evidence-of-russian-cyber-operations could-bolster-new-icc-arrest-warrants 

18 Mar 24 

Crowded waters: Who’s doing what in the international hotspot of the Red Sea 

BEIRUT — In November 2023, the Yemen-based Houthi rebel group began launching missile, drone and even unmanned surface vessel attacks against commercial shipping in what the group said was common cause with Hamas’s attack on Israel. 

By endangering Red Sea transit, the Houthis, officially called Ansar Allah (“supporters of God”), struck at a vital economic waterway host to approximately 15 percent of global maritime trade. Ships were presented with a bitter choice: Either to sail the Suez Canal-Red Sea-Bab El Mandeb Strait route under threat of a fatal incident, or reroute through Gibraltar all around Africa via Cape of Good Hope, and add up to two weeks to their journey. 

Responding to the dilemma, a host of nations have since sent their own military ships to the waterway, most in an effort to protect commercial

vessels there. But they’re not all working together. 

In fact there are several overlapping military missions ….. https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/crowded-waters-whos doing-what-in-the-international-hotspot-of-the-red-sea/? utm_campaign=BD%20Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=29877 2048&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--3yl 

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11 Mar 24 

2024 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community This report reflects the collective insights of the Intelligence Community, which is committed every day to providing the nuanced, independent, and unvarnished intelligence that policymakers, warfighters, and domestic law enforcement personnel need to protect American lives and America's interests anywhere in the world. 

https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2024- Unclassified-Report.pdf 

5 Mar 24 

GAO Report - SOF and Civilian Oversight 

The Government Accountability Office has examined the extent to which the Secretariat for Special Operations has hired the staff needed to oversee USSOCOM, its implementation of reforms, and the challenges it faces in obtaining administrative support services. It published its findings in a report in early March 2024. Since 2019, the Department of Defense has increased theAssistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (ASD SO/LIC) oversight responsibilities for U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). It also has increased the resources needed for the Secretariat for Special Operations, which assists the ASD SO/LIC in conducting oversight. However, members of Congress have some concerns that the DoD has not gone far enough in its reform of ASD SO/LIC and oversight activities of USSOCOM. 

https://sof.news/ussocom/sof-civilian-oversight/ 

4 Mar 24 

The Art of Deception: Exploring the Parallels Between Cyber Espionage and Intelligence Social Engineering 

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, witnessing an alarming surge in cyber attacks, social engineering plays a pivotal role in various malicious activities. This includes phishing, smishing, spear phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, and identity theft. Interestingly, the techniques employed in these cyber exploits bear a striking resemblance to the methods used by intelligence agencies to identify and recruit potential assets or to trick targets into revealing information about their location, plans, contacts, and more. 

Though I no longer work for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, my interest in all things Intelligence-related has remained. Shortly after my retirement, I decided to delve into the world of Cybersecurity. Like many, I realized then—and am even more cognizant now—that the digital world is a burgeoning frontier of potential exploitation for foreign and enemy states. This has been recently highlighted in the data breach of Global Affairs Canada, which I commented on in the CTV interview

(add link). 

https://globalintelligenceknowledgenetwork.com/2024/03/the-art-of-deception exploring-the-parallels-between-cyber-espionage-and-intelligence-social engineering/ 

29 Feb 24 

Brute force: Russia ‘doubled down’ on often-crude disinformation in 2023, says report 

WASHINGTON — With all-out war in Ukraine entering its third brutal year, anew report says the Russian disinformation strategy online looks a lot like its battle tactics on the ground: launch wave after wave of low-skilled grunts and hope that somebody makes it through. 

One alarming difference on the internet, however, is artificial intelligence. While both sides have struggled to apply AI to the physical battlefield, when it comes to information war, AI translation software, AI-generated narration for videos, chatbots like ChatGPT, and the rise of generative AI overall could give Moscow an essentially limitless supply of digital cannon fodder, according to a new report from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. 

“Russia has doubled down on its worldwide efforts to undermine Kyiv’s international standing in an attempt to erode Western support and domestic Ukrainian morale,” says the report, authored by a dozen international experts, mostly Europeans. 

https://breakingdefense.com/2024/02/brute-force-russia-doubled-down-on often-crude-disinformation-in-2023-says-report/? 

utm_campaign=Breaking%20Defense%20Networks%20%26%20Cyber&utm_me dium=email&_hsmi=296899384&_hsenc=p2ANqtz 

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27 Feb 24 

US Army is slashing thousands of posts in major revamp to prepare for future wars The U.S. Army is slashing the size of its force by about 24,000, or almost 5%, and restructuring to be better able to fight the next major war, as the service struggles with recruiting shortfalls that made it impossible to bring in enough soldiers to fill all the jobs. 

The cuts will mainly be in already-empty posts — not actual soldiers — including in jobs related to counterinsurgency that swelled during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars but are not needed as much today. About 3,000 of the cuts would come from Army special operations forces. 

At the same time, however, the plan will add about 7,500 troops in other critical missions, including air-defense and counter-drone units and five new task forces around the world with enhanced cyber, intelligence and long-range strike capabilities. 

https://apnews.com/article/army-cuts-soldiers-recruiting-shortfall 9f2f41cbe512f6330ce6008709e3435b? 

user_email=ac98ac2759633983e679cb1dfba90995157dcc8c1f47e1e5dd9a5d34092 1caae 

And 

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-restructure-cuts-24000/? utm_term=Task%26Purpose_Today_02.28.24_Navy%20Federal%20Credit%20Un

ion%5B1642664%5D%20%28630356%29&utm_campaign=Task%20%26%20Purp ose_TPToday_Actives_Dynamic&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email And 

https://www.defensenews.com/land/2024/02/27/here-are-the-winners-and losers-in-us-armys-force-structure-change/ 

The actual Army Force Structure Transformation Paper can be found at: https://api.army.mil/e2/c/downloads/2024/02/27/091989c9/army-white-paper army-force-structure-transformation.pdf 

27 Feb 24 

How the Pentagon learned to Use Targeted Ads to Find Its Targets - and Vladimir Putin 

n 2019, a government contractor and technologist named Mike Yeagley began making the rounds in Washington, DC. He had a blunt warning for anyone in the country’s national security establishment who would listen: The US government had a Grindr problem. 

A popular dating and hookup app, Grindr relied on the GPS capabilities of modern smartphones to connect potential partners in the same city, neighborhood, or even building. The app can show how far away a potential partner is in real time, down to the foot. 

https://www.wired.com/story/how-pentagon-learned-targeted-ads-to-find targets-and-vladimir-putin/ 

26 Feb 24 

The prospect of a second Trump presidency has the intelligence community on edge Former top officials from Donald Trump’s administration are warning he is likely to use a second term to overhaul the nation’s spy agencies in a way that could lead to an unprecedented level of politicization of intelligence. 

Trump, who already tried to revamp intelligence agencies during his first term, is likely to re-up those plans — and push even harder to replace people perceived as hostile to his political agenda with inexperienced loyalists, according to interviews with more than a dozen people who worked in his administration. That could empower the former president’s top subordinates to shield him from information that doesn’t conform with his politics and even change the wording of assessments with which he disagrees, many said. 

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/26/trump-intelligence-agency-national security-00142968 

21 Feb 24 

China’s Spy Agency Sees Threats Everywhere in Data Security Push China’s spy agency is now warning that these everyday acts are increasingly being exploited by foreign actors to harm the country’s national security. It’s the latest sign of increasing scrutiny of data flows, one that is likely to heighten risks for businesses operating in the world’s second-largest economy. 

The Ministry of State Security has identified at least 11 kinds of data as being pilfered by malicious foreign entities since September, according to a Bloomberg News tally of its official WeChat posts. These unnamed actors are obtaining information about key issues such as food production, genetics and weather through software, non-governmental organizations and unwitting Chinese citizens, the agency said. 

“MSS is operating on a ‘better safe than sorry’ mentality when it comes to data security,” said Dominic Chiu, senior analyst at Eurasia Group. “By mentioning those seemingly innocuous acts, MSS is making clear that its mandate encompasses all

areas of security, and that the ministry is serious about enforcing the law and prosecuting those who violate them.” 

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/china-s-spy-agency-sees-threats-everywhere in-data-security-push-1.2037210 

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