{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Pentagon boosts spending on PR for domestic and world public opinion' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54be02d8eafeecae1385c4' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54be02d8eafeecae1385c4' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nPentagon boosts spending on PR for domestic and world public opinion\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eFILE: Fallujah, Iraq - 12 November 20041. Various of soldiers firing their weapons Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, US - December 2008 (exact date unknown)2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Kalev I. Sepp, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence,...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eFILE: Fallujah, Iraq - 12 November 2004\u003cbr/\u003e1. Various of soldiers firing their weapons \u003cbr/\u003ePentagon, Arlington, Virginia, US - December 2008 (exact date unknown)\u003cbr/\u003e2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Kalev I. Sepp, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence, Special Operations Capabilities: \u003cbr/\u003e\"This is a fight for the human terrain means that being able to influence populations to support government objectives, not just US objectives, but objectives of the country we're supporting in the fight against insurgents or terrorists.\"\u003cbr/\u003eSan Antonio, Texas, US - 08 January 2009\u003cbr/\u003e3. Pan of an Air Force media workstation at Hometown News\u003cbr/\u003e4. Zoom out of computer screen with a member of the US Military giving a holiday greeting\u003cbr/\u003ePentagon, Arlington, Virginia, US - December 2008 (exact date unknown)\u003cbr/\u003e5. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Hastings, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Public Affairs: \u003cbr/\u003e\"The role of public affairs is to provide you the information so that you can make an informed decision yourself.\"\u003cbr/\u003e6. Various close ups of a newspaper articles written by the military's Hometown News\u003cbr/\u003e7. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Hastings, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence, Public Affairs: \u003cbr/\u003e\"In my opinion spin has no place in public affairs.\"\u003cbr/\u003eFILE: Iraq - Date Unknown\u003cbr/\u003e8. Various of US troops in Iraq\u003cbr/\u003eSan Antonio, Texas, US - 08 January 2009\u003cbr/\u003e9. SOUNDBITE (English) Master Sergeant Angie Sarchet, US Air Force: \u003cbr/\u003e\"This is what we do for the civilian media. To put the good news out there and to spread that military word back to the hometowns where these guys and gals are from.\"\u003cbr/\u003eFILE: Persian Gulf - Date unknown\u003cbr/\u003e10. Arial of Persian Gulf shot from helicopter, weapon in foreground \u003cbr/\u003eFort Bragg, North Carolina, US - 15 December 2008\u003cbr/\u003e11. Wide of Colonel Curtis Boyd, US Army at his desk\u003cbr/\u003e12. SOUNDBITE (English) Colonel Curtis Boyd, US Army: \u003cbr/\u003e\"When we speak of psychological operations as you suggested that maybe it has this connotation of being something sinister, but in fact the truth of the matter is that I'm wearing \"United States Army\" on my chest. I represent what is the constitution of the American people, so as I result I'm not going to speak anything but the truth.\"\u003cbr/\u003eWashington, DC, US - Recent (exact date unknown)\u003cbr/\u003e13. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Hodes, Representative from New Hampshire, Democrat: \u003cbr/\u003e\"It's critical to our democracy that we have the separation between civilian and military communications.\"\u003cbr/\u003e14. Mid of Hodes\u003cbr/\u003e15. SOUNDBITE (English) Paul Hodes, Representative from New Hampshire, Democrat: \u003cbr/\u003e\"I want to make sure that the taxpayers money is not being used by government agencies for covert propaganda directed at American citizens in this country.\"\u003cbr/\u003eFILE: Baghdad, Iraq - Date unknown\u003cbr/\u003e16. Various of US troops in Iraq\u003cbr/\u003eAs it fights two wars, the Pentagon is steadily and dramatically increasing the money it spends to win what it calls \"the human terrain\" of world public opinion. \u003cbr/\u003eIn the process, it is raising concerns of spreading propaganda at home in violation of federal law.\u003cbr/\u003eAn Associated Press investigation found that over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least 4.7 (b) billion US dollars this year, according to Defence Department budgets and other documents. \u003cbr/\u003eThat's almost as much as it spent on body armour for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2004 and 2006.\u003cbr/\u003eThis year, the Pentagon will employ 27-thousand people just for recruitment, advertising and public relations, almost as many as the total 30-thousand-person work force in the State Department.\u003cbr/\u003eYet the money spent on media and outreach still comes to only 1 percent of the Pentagon budget, and the military argues it is well-spent on recruitment and the education of foreign and US audiences. \u003cbr/\u003eMilitary leaders say that at a time when extremist groups run websites and distribute video, information is as important a weapon as tanks and guns.\u003cbr/\u003eOn an abandoned Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas, editors for the Joint Hometown News Service point proudly to a dozen clippings on a table as examples of success in getting stories into newspapers.\u003cbr/\u003eWhat readers are not told: Each of these glowing stories was written by Pentagon staff. \u003cbr/\u003eUnder the free service, stories go out with authors' names but not their titles, and do not mention Hometown News anywhere. \u003cbr/\u003eIn 2009, Hometown News plans to put out 5,400 press releases, three-thousand television releases and 1,600 radio interviews, among other work, 50 percent more than in 2007.\u003cbr/\u003e\"This is what we do for the civilian media. To put the good news out there and to spread that military word back to the hometowns where these guys and gals are from,\" said Master Sergeant Angie Sarchet, an Air Force member who works for Hometown News. \u003cbr/\u003eThe service is just a tiny piece of the Pentagon's rapidly expanding media empire, which is now bigger in size, money and power than many media companies.\u003cbr/\u003eIn a yearlong investigation, The Associated Press interviewed more than 100 people and scoured more than 100-thousand pages of documents in several budgets to tally the money spent to inform, educate and influence the public in the US and abroad. \u003cbr/\u003eThe AP included contracts found through the private FedSources database and requests made under the Freedom of Information Act. \u003cbr/\u003eActual spending figures are higher because of money in classified budgets.\u003cbr/\u003eRecruitment and advertising are the only two areas where Congress has authorised the military to influence the American public. \u003cbr/\u003eFar more controversial is public affairs, because of the prohibition on propaganda to the American public.\u003cbr/\u003e\"It's not up to the Pentagon to sell policy to the American people,\" said Representative Paul Hodes of New Hampshire, who sponsored legislation in Congress last year reinforcing the ban.\u003cbr/\u003eSpending on public affairs has more than doubled since 2003.\u003cbr/\u003eRobert Hastings, acting director of Pentagon public affairs, says the growth reflects changes in the information market, along with the fact that the US is now fighting two wars.\u003cbr/\u003e\"The role of public affairs is to provide you the information so that you can make an informed decision yourself,\" Hastings said, \"in my opinion, there is no place for spin in public affairs.\"\u003cbr/\u003eBut on December 12, the Pentagon's inspector general released an audit finding that the public affairs office may have crossed the line into propaganda. \u003cbr/\u003eThe audit found the Department of Defence \"may appear to merge inappropriately\" its public affairs with operations that try to influence audiences abroad. \u003cbr/\u003eIt also found that while only 89 positions were authorised for public affairs, 126 government employees and 31 contractors worked there.\u003cbr/\u003eIn a written response, Hastings concurred and, without acknowledging wrongdoing, ordered a re-organisation of the department by early 2009.\u003cbr/\u003eThe audit also found that the offer to place corporate logos on the Pentagon Web site in return for donations was against regulations. \u003cbr/\u003eA military spokesman said the program has been completely overhauled to meet Pentagon regulations.\u003cbr/\u003eThe fastest-growing part of the military media is \"psychological operations,\" where spending has doubled since 2003.\u003cbr/\u003ePsychological operations aim at foreign audiences, and spin is welcome. \u003cbr/\u003eThe only caveats are that messages must be truthful and must never try to influence an American audience.\u003cbr/\u003eIn Afghanistan, for example, a video of a soldier joining the national army shown on Afghan television is not attributed to the United States. And in Iraq, American teams built and equipped media outlets and trained Iraqis to staff them without making public the connection to the military.\u003cbr/\u003eThe danger of psychological operations reaching a US audience became clear when an American television anchor asked General David Petraeus about the mood in Iraq.\u003cbr/\u003eThe general held up a glossy photo of the Iraqi national soccer team to show the country united in victory.\u003cbr/\u003eBehind the camera, his staff was cringing. It was US psychological operations that had quietly distributed tens of thousands of the soccer posters in July 2007 to encourage Iraqi nationalism.\u003cbr/\u003eWith a new administration in power, it is not clear what changes may be made. \u003cbr/\u003eOfficials in the administration of President Barack Obama have said they intend to go through the Department of Defence budget closely to trim bloated spending.\u003cbr/\u003eThe emphasis on influence operations started with former Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who in 2002 established an Office of Strategic Influence that brought together public affairs and psychological operations.\u003cbr/\u003eCritics accused him of setting up a propaganda arm, and Congress demanded that the office be shut down.\u003cbr/\u003eRumsfeld has refused to speak to the press since leaving office, but while defence secretary he spoke bluntly about his desire to revamp the Pentagon's media operations.\u003cbr/\u003e\"I went down that next day and said, ``Fine, if you want to savage this thing, fine, I'll give you the corpse,' Rumsfeld said on November 18, 2002, according to Defence Department transcripts of a speech he delivered. \u003cbr/\u003e\"'There's the name. You can have the name, but I'm gonna keep doing every single thing that needs to be done and I have,\" Rumsfeld said.  \u003cbr/\u003eIn 2003, Rumsfeld issued a secret Information Operations Road Map setting out a plan for public affairs and psychological operations to work together. \u003cbr/\u003eIt noted that with a global media, the military should expect and accept that psychological operations will reach the US public.\u003cbr/\u003eIn January 2008, a new report by the Defence Science Board recommended resurrecting the Office of Strategic Influence as the Office of Strategic Communications. 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