Thursday, August 19, 2010

Pentagon psy-ops unit also does domestic disaster aid

On the Washington Post website in Jeff Stein's Spytalk section, there is an interesting article on the ANG 193rd Commando Solo aircraft.

The last part of the article went a little wide afield, "Occasionally, however, information surfaces to suggest that NORTHCOM has co-mingled civil defense and domestic psychological warfare functions, raising Orwellian suspicions among some."

But the big headline in this article is the mission change in June.

". . . when the name of the mission was changed to a more civilian-friendly “Military Information Support Operations,” or MISO.

"Under any name, the planes are equipped to broadcast radio and television messages to target audiences, including in the United States.

"Although the unit’s main mission is foreign, to counter an adversary’s propaganda or propagate our own (such as all-is-lost surrender messages aimed at Iraqi troops), the 193rd is also ready to spring into action domestically under the Defense Department's Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, which was established in Colorado Springs, Colo., after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."

You can read the rest of the copyrighted story online at the link below.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/08/us_command_still_has_a_domesti.html?referrer=emaillink