US Military Information Operations FM

[Rockbridge]

In further proof that the conspiracy theorists of the world use the military's unique language and misquotations to their advantage, DOD's 2003 IO Roadmap has been severely maligned as a document that advocates destruction of the internet in an attempt to prevent free speech. The quote below is from the "Knowledge Driven Revolution" (http://www.knowledgedrivenrevolution..._Fight_Net.htm)

"The Pentagon's Information Operations Roadmap is blunt about the fact that an internet, with the potential for free speech, is in direct opposition to their goals. The internet needs to be dealt with as if it were an enemy "weapons system."

The actual quote, from page 13 of the IO Roadmap refers to DOD's Computer Network Defense efforts, stating that "DOD's Defense in Depth" strategy should operate on the premise that the Department should "fight the net" as it would a weapons system."

Military folks understand the concept of "fighting" a tank as a weapons system, meaning that you're going to employ the thing as an integral element of your operation, not attack it. Furthermore, this specifc reference is to developing better defensive capabilities against enemy penetrations, not about developing offensive tools to attack the internet at large to prevent free speech.

Unfortunately, this sort of ridiculous stuff gets traction. This specific, misquoted posting has been repeated on dozens of other sites, yet we do nothing to counter this sort of activity. Offensively countering this sort of posting would obviously prove it true, but we can sure do better about debunking some of the more overt BS gets disseminated.