"War on Film"

[Tom Odom]

OK, so all military action sends a message or has a psychological effect. How do you manage that when so much effect is unintended and unpredictable?

Soldiers should not be concenred that "every military operation has, as an emergent property of it, an information operation whether that is recognized or not."

Getting into IO is the same danger as the Sorcerer's apprentice got into.

Yes, IO can have lethal effect. "Kill all those with blue front doors," is not something we should be doing. Dropping bombs on those saying it, is!

The only IO strategy I see as militarily valid is denying the enemy all sources of information, and denying him the ability to conduct IO.

Ignoring IO is not a strategy. This is the same thing as saying we con't do small wars or COIN because they make us uncomfortable.

And yes we do lethal PSYOP in that we seek to change behaviors in order to expose the enemy and kill him.

As for management of effects, we do that too regardless of what it is called. Again we seek to change behaviors.

We do this as part of our doctrine today. We have done it in our past as a subset of general military operations.

[Steve Blair]

One reason I'm not a fan of the military doing some of the public side of IO is that they have often done it poorly...especially in the last 40 years or so. Is it a military function? Sure. I wasn't clear on that earlier. And it is certainly one we could do much better.

"Back in the day" officers used to write (openly and otherwise) for major magazines and news publications on a VERY regular basis. Custer did it, as did John Bourke and a number of other officers who served with Crook. Nelson Miles was certainly very aware of IO, and used aspects of it to push and shape his own career. Much of what these men wrote was aimed squarely at the American public...either in defense or justification of their own actions or as an attack on a rival in the command chain (officers were much less restrained in those days).

The military needs to be aware of IO, and perhaps of equal (or greater) importance to learn the difference between IO aimed at their own ranks and that directed outside. The "Five O'Clock Follies" are a great example of failed external IO. Granted, I take a narrower view of IO than either Tom or Marc, but that's my historical focus. The military is often called on to explain or justify its actions, and by denying IO they just open themselves up for more grief. IMO, anyhow. I defer to my more learned colleagues on the rest.