Psychological Operations (PSYOPS)

Military Propaganda by Another Name

Psychological operations — PSYOPS — are planned activities designed to influence the attitudes and behavior of target audiences through the use of information. Every major military in the world maintains a PSYOPS capability. The US military's PSYOPS forces are housed within Army Special Operations and have been deployed in every major conflict since World War II.

During the Gulf War, Coalition forces dropped over 29 million leaflets on Iraqi positions, urging soldiers to surrender. The leaflets included instructions on how to surrender safely and warnings about impending attacks. An estimated 87,000 Iraqi soldiers surrendered, many carrying the leaflets. This is PSYOPS at its most effective — changing enemy behavior without firing a shot.

Modern Psychological Operations

Today's PSYOPS extend far beyond leaflets. Social media manipulation, targeted messaging, and strategic communication campaigns are all part of the modern toolkit. The US rebranded PSYOPS as 'Military Information Support Operations' (MISO) in 2010, partly because the original term had negative connotations.

Russia's 'active measures' — dezinformatsiya (disinformation), kompromat (compromising material), and provokatsiya (provocation) — represent a distinct PSYOPS tradition dating to the KGB. The Internet Research Agency's social media campaigns during the 2016 US election were a modern expression of this tradition, using fake American personas to inflame existing social divisions.

The ethical questions are profound. When does legitimate military psychological warfare shade into propaganda directed at domestic or allied populations? The US Smith-Mundt Act historically prohibited the government from directing propaganda at American citizens, but enforcement has been inconsistent and the law was modified in 2012 to allow domestic access to materials produced for foreign audiences.