US General Accused of Using "Psyop" on Americans in AFG

[Steve the Planner]

I'm one of those dumb ass naive patriots that simply believed that Ollie North should be shot for treason, then if he wanted to do a talk show---go for it.

The military's recent practice of crafting stove-piped and impractical short-term missions that exceed possible national resources available, then believing that resources will follow, is just impractical.

Reality is that even if resources were granted for training a substantially greater Afghan force, the resources to sustain that level of forces does not exist.

Anyone charged with this mission who thinks their job is simply to stuff funding demands into a pipeline until it clogs up is not doing a service to his country.

Covering these gaps up by influence peddling doesn't fill the gap.

Slap is right about the under-resourcing, but, there is another answer beyond just sending unlimited resources.

[Agent of Influence]

used interchangeably, they are in fact two separate disciplines that work "together".

I would like to highlight that LTC Holmes is not a PSYOP Officer; he is assigned to a Theater Information Operations Group.

Information Operations is by design a coordinating function - designed to synchronize and link the effects of associated capabilities of IO - MISO being one of them. There are varying degrees of descriptions of what a Theater Information Operations Group does - including one that stated that they conduct "mind warfare" - I have never heard of this type of warfare, ever!

I have to question that following an IG Complaint (in which LTC Holmes did not receive whistleblower protection), a 15-6 investigation, and legal counsel - this article was crafted by the same reporter who "brought down McCrystal". Sounds a little strange to me - perhaps a little approach and "want a good story?"

That being said, the opening comments by Brett and Entropy are correct - this is going to be a mess. Heads will roll, efforts will stall, and shakeups will happen.

I find it hard to believe that a General, (regardless of who he is) would actually consider asking a person even remotely affiliated with Influence efforts to conduct such an action.

As a MISO professional, who believes in the possibilities of influence (if done correctly and legally), I am cowering a bit in the preparation of of a potential Tsunami of finger pointing and allegations that will in fact weaken the Army.

I will be watching from the sidelines with caution.

[Ron Humphrey]

I realize there's a lot those of us in the cheap seats don't know it seems counter to everything I've seen from Caldwell that he wouldn't be aware of all the concerns that have been brought up here. So that makes it pretty hard to buy that it an oop's rather than the more likely mis-representation of the facts by those on the offense. Guess I could be wrong, been there before

But before Ken's gets a hold of me with that freshly sharpened Axe of his-

Steve,
Although your right about the cost in the long term being infeasible
Isn't that the very point behind insuring that VIP's and purse holders are all made uncomfortably aware of it long before it happens. In order to do that you have to understand what they think and what their concerns are so you can make sure they don't miss the important pieces like the finance bit.

[Big.Palook]

As a MISO professional, who believes in the possibilities of influence (if done correctly and legally), I am cowering a bit in the preparation of of a potential Tsunami of finger pointing and allegations that will in fact weaken the Army.

I will be watching from the sidelines with caution.

Think the tsunami will come when they begin looking at what doctrine LTG Caldwell used. As noted, he has a joint command and should have been guided by JP 3-13 and it's supporting pubs. But as the CAC Commander, LTG Caldwell was very heavily involved in the 2008 version of FM 3-0 which articulated how the Army conducts information operations through the Army information tasks. The words are correct, but in the figures it appears the Army blurred the lines between informing and influencing by binning PSYOP with PA.

Lines have been further blurred by FM 3-0 Change 1 which hit the streets this week. Replaces the information tasks with Inform and Influence Activities and Cyber/Electromagnetic activities. As with the 2008 version, believe the words are correct, but the figure blurs the lines between inform and influence by having MISO (formerly PSYOPS) spanning both lines of effort.

If this quote from the second to the last paragraph is true, my bet would be he was operating IAW the 2008 version of FM 3-0.

Effective immediately," the memo read, "the engagement in information operations by personnel assigned to the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan and Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan is strictly prohibited." From now on, the memo added, the "information operation cell" would be referred to as the "Information Engagement cell." The IE’s mission? "This cell will engage in activities for the sole purpose of informing and educating U.S., Afghan and international audiences…."

This will all be under a microscope shortly and the FM 3-0 change may be very short lived. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[82redleg]

"Holmes was not trained in psychological operations per se. According to U.S. military officials he never graduated from psy ops training at Fort Bragg, though he was in "information operations" which can include a psychological component."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...ators/#content

He was not a PSYOP officer. If he claimed he was (when he talked to Rolling Stone) and its not the reporter misunderstanding, then LTC Holmes is a liar, and deserves to be punished for that (Conduct Unbecoming). This whole deal just makes my Army and my officer corps look bad, and that is a bad thing. One bad apple, and all that.

Gulliver's commentary (linked above by Entropy) is cogent. I disagree on the point that GOs should not influence politicians, however. At the 3* and 4* level, GOs are either strategic leaders (operating in the strategic domain- for example, the CJCS, CSA, CSAF, CNO, and their primary staffs) or operational leaders, who have to link strategic decisions and objectives with military/tactical ways and means. This is the level LTG Caldwell is operating at. An example of this is GEN Luck telling President Carter that war with North Korea would cost a billion dollars and a million lives, informing the political/strategic decision of how to respond to NK nuclear activities in the 90s (see pg 43 of this book http://books.google.com/books?id=xww...0korea&f=false). This is the same thing LTG Caldwell is "accused" of doing.