Army Mind Games Manual

Secrecy News, part of the FAS's Project on Government Secrecy, is always unearthing interesting items that let us see how the government makes sausage. The latest find to pull back the curtain is the U.S. Army manual on psychological operations, a 179-page document never approved for public release.

PSYOPs is a valuable but little understood tool in warfare. It's mainly used as propaganda to influence the outlook of people overseas (ever wonder why the U.S. military has a seemingly endless supply of soccer balls to hand out to bedraggled youth in occupied countries?). As the manual states: "The application of national power always contains a psychological dimension because the instruments of power are used to affect the decisions and ultimately the behavior of world leaders."

Nice one. So the military would never use this stuff on Americans, right? Ah, well...there's this presidential executive order that...read on:

"U.S. PSYOP forces will not target U.S. citizens at any time, in any location globally, or under any circumstances. However, commanders may use PSYOP forces to provide public information to U.S. audiences during times of disaster or crisis. The precedent for the limited use of PSYOP forces to present public information to a U.S. audience was set during the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992."