The solution is simple. To protect military information support operations from developing the same sort of taint that psychological operations now have, they should be made unambiguously truthful. PSYOP (now MISO) doctrine should be rewritten to ban misleading or false content or disseminating messages with false attribution. Clear (and publicly stated) policies prohibiting falsehood and MISO doctrine that is free from “black” tools and approaches will signal to U.S. allies and target audiences alike that MISO personnel are honest, credible and trustworthy sources of information. Credible sources are, after all, the most persuasive.
There may still be times when the Department of Defense wants and needs to mislead or manipulate an enemy. Most of these will be tactical and short-term needs, and either directly protect the lives of U.S. forces or trick adversaries into exposing themselves to harm, or both. To preserve U.S. credibility in those cases where “black” tools are necessary, they should be separated completely from military information support so that MISO is never touched by the taint of falsehood.
Commanders who desired such capability could employ it, but the “black” tools would be separated with a policy firewall from truthful efforts to inform, influence, and persuade. This would promote greater collaboration with public affairs and civil affairs, and would facilitate the realization of strategic communication principles. And, to keep things honest, the residual “black toolkit” could be called something evil-sounding, like “deceptive manipulation” or even….PSYOP.
Dr. Christopher Paul is a social scientist at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis. He is the author of Whither Strategic Communication?, Information Operations – Doctrine and Practice, and co-author of Enlisting Madison Avenue.