Disinformation

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For other uses, see Disinformation (disambiguation).

Disinformation is the deliberate dissemination of false information. It may include the distribution of forged documents, manuscripts, and photographs, or propagation of malicious rumors and fabricated intelligence. In the context of espionage or military intelligence, it is the deliberate spreading of false information to mislead an enemy as to one's position or course of action. In the context of politics, it is the deliberate attempt to deflect voter support of an opponent, disseminating false statements of innuendo based on the candidates vulnerabilities as revealed by opposition research. In both cases, it also includes the distortion of true information in such a way as to render it useless.

Disinformation should not be confused with misinformation, which is merely false information spread by mistake.

Disinformation techniques may also be found in commerce and government, used by one group to try to undermine the position of a competitor. It in fact is the act of deception and blatant false statements to convince someone of an untruth. Cooking-the-books might be considered a disinformation strategy that led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Unlike traditional propaganda and Big Lie techniques designed to engage emotional support, disinformation is designed to manipulate the audience at the rational level by either discrediting conflicting information or supporting false conclusions.

Another technique of concealing facts, or censorship, is also used if the group can affect such control. When channels of information cannot be completely closed, they can be rendered useless by filling them with disinformation, effectively lowering their signal-to-noise ratio and discrediting the opposition by association with a lot of easily-disproved false claims.

A common disinformation tactic is to mix some truth and observation with false conclusions and lies, or to reveal part of the truth while presenting it as the whole (a limited hangout).

The Cold War made disinformation a recognized military and political tactic. Military disinformation techniques were described by Vladimir Volkoff. Disinformation techniques may also be found in commerce and government, used by one group to try to undermine the position of a competitor or consumer. Cooking-the-books might be considered a disinformation strategy that led to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

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[edit] Examples of disinformation

[edit] D-Day

A classic example of disinformation was during the World War II, preceding the D-Day landings, in what would be known as Operation Fortitude. British intelligence convinced the German Armed Forces that a much larger invasion force was about to cross the English Channel from Kent, England. In reality, the Normandy landings were the main attempt at establishing a beachhead, made easier by the German Command's reluctance to commit its armies.

[edit] Disinformation by the KGB

A few examples of Soviet disinformation against the United States included the following [1]:

  • Promotion of false John F. Kennedy assassination theories through writer Mark Lane who had meetings with several Soviet agents including Genrikh Borovik. Lane denies these allegations.
  • Discreditation of the CIA, using historian Philip Agee (codenamed PONT).
  • Attempts to discredit Martin Luther King, Jr. by placing publications portraying him as an "Uncle Tom" who was secretly receiving government subsidies. At the time King's campaign for civil rights was praised by the Soviet Union, and he was the subject of disinformation efforts by the FBI's Cointelpro Commission. [From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Struggle for Economic Justice. By Thomas F. Jackson], [1].
  • Stirring up racial tensions in the United States by mailing bogus letters from the Ku Klux Klan, placing an explosive package in "the Negro section of New York" (operation PANDORA), and spreading conspiracy theories that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination had been planned by the US government.
  • Fabrication of the story that AIDS virus was manufactured by US scientists at Fort Detrick; the story was spread by Russian-born biologist Jakob Segal

[edit] Disinformation by the CIA

In 1986, national security adviser John Poindexter wrote for President Ronald Reagan a "disinformation program" aimed at destabilizing Libya's Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi by planting reports in the foreign press about an impending conflict between the two countries. However, the false information eventually reached The Wall Street Journal—a phenomenon known in the trade as blowback [2].

[edit] Alleged disinformation

Senior SVR officer Sergei Tretyakov made the claim to writer Pete Earley that the KGB "created the myth of nuclear winter" as disinformation (see Sergei Tretyakov for details), although Earley said that the accuracy of this claim "is impossible to discern",[3] and subsequent studies using more advanced climate models have continued to support the hypothesis (see nuclear winter).

Former Mossad case worker Victor Ostrovsky claims that the Israeli secret service successfully used disinformation techniques to cause the US to blame Libya for the 1986 bombing of La Belle Discothèque in West Berlin.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin (2000). The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West. Gardners Books. ISBN 0-14-028487-7.
  2. ^ Daniel Schorr, "Official US deception: Can it be trusted?", Christian Science Monitor, March 1, 2002; retrieved on February 22, 2007
  3. ^ Pete Earley, "Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia's Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War", Penguin Books, 2007, ISBN-13 978-0-399-15439-3, pages 169-177

[edit] See also

[edit] External links