Posted on 22-2-2002

Pentagon Starts Spinning
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington, 20 February 2002

The Pentagon is developing a major covert news and disinformation campaign
to help Washington win the propaganda war against terrorism in the Islamic
world.

The plan, worrying to some US defence officials, is being elaborated by the
Office of Strategic Influence (OSI), a recently created unit funded from an
extra $10bn (£7m) of emergency funds voted by Congress to the Pentagon
after 11 September. The main target is the Islamic countries of the Middle
East and Asia, but the campaign may also be directed at Western Europe,
where criticism has mounted in recent weeks of the Bush administration's
strategy to fight terrorism.

Little is known of the OSI other than that it is headed by an air force
general, Brigadier General Simon Worden, and is being advised by a powerful
Washington communications consultancy, the Rendon Group. Its budget and
staffing is unknown. Rendon has previously worked for the CIA, the Kuwaiti
government and the Iraqi National Congress opposition group, and is being
paid fees of about $100,000 a month, according to The New York Times, which
disclosed the existence of the OSI yesterday.

The blueprint for the propaganda offensive is being studied by the
Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, and by Pentagon lawyers, and has not
yet been formally approved by President Bush. But Mr Rumsfeld is said
broadly to back the idea, and Rendon's background is further evidence of
how Mr Bush intends to ratchet up the pressure on Saddam Hussein and
achieve "regime change" in Iraq. None the less there are misgivings within
the Pentagon at its seemingly imminent venture into an area traditionally
the preserve of the CIA and the State Department. The main fear is that by
feeding slanted and possibly false information to foreign government
officials and the international media, the OSI might undermine the
credibility of the Pentagon's official press department.

Victoria Clarke, the official Pentagon press spokeswoman, said her
department was not involved with the OSI, calling it "a work in progress".
Though the Pentagon has been far from generous with information about the
war, Mr Rumsfeld has more or less kept his promise not to lie to reporters,
often telling reporters investigating sensitive issues: "I know, but I
won't tell you." The New York Times said the plan, if approved, would
embrace "black" disinformation and other covert activities in addition to
accurate news releases. It would feature e-mail messages, distributed by an
outside source to conceal their origin, which would promote US policies and
attack unfriendly governments.