Re: [iwar] [fc:Defending.Deception]

From: e.r. (fastflyer28@yahoo.com)
Date: 2002-03-01 18:26:21
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Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 18:26:21 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: [iwar] [fc:Defending.Deception]
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 come on Fred: frank gaffney?
  Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> wrote: National Review online
February 21, 2002
Defending Deception
Deception is in some cases essential to the success of military operations.
By Frank J. Gaffney Jr. 
The good news is that Leftists at home and abroad are no longer getting
front-page attention for their preposterous claims that the Pentagon is
badly treating terrorists by denying them prisoner-of-war status during
their incarceration in Guantanamo Bay. The bad news is that the Bush
administration's critics over the war on terrorism have not given up, they
have simply chosen a new stick with which to beat up the U.S. government. 
The current campaign has been prompted by charges breathlessly publicized by
the New York Times to the effect that the defense department is preparing to
use disinformation against foreign governments and press. Suddenly passé are
concerns about the "sensory deprived" Taliban and al Qaeda detainees
captured on film being forced to kneel in their Cuban stockade. The cause de
jour has become an insistence that the Pentagon tell nothing but the truth,
the whole truth, all the time. 
While the focus is different, the political subtext of the new campaign -
like the one that preceded it - is the same: Knock down the public's
confidence in the administration when it comes to waging war on terrorism. 
It is as extraordinary as it is regrettable that this second round of
overheated rhetoric appears to have been precipitated by the same source as
the first: The Pentagon's own public-affairs shop. This organization
recently, if belatedly, took collective responsibility for the decision to
release the provocative photograph of the Guantanamo detainees. That
self-inflicted wound was compounded by the failure simultaneously to explain
that it chronicled not their day-to-day treatment, but a single moment in
time: The exceedingly dangerous transition of hardened and ruthless
terrorists from the plane that brought them to Cuba to their cells. 
The defense department's PA shop has yet to take credit for setting off this
week's cause celebre. Still, the front-page, above-the-fold article in the
February 19 editions of the New York Times that precipitated the current
firestorm of criticism was sourced by unnamed individuals transparently
defending their bureaucratic "turf" against proposals that would cede to a
newly created Office of Strategic Influence any authority to disseminate
information to overseas audiences. 
The tragedy is not only that the secretary of defense has been obliged by
actions of his own subordinates once again to spend precious time, energy,
and political capital defending his department against the Left's rants.
Rather it is that, in the process, he has been compelled sharply to
circumscribe, and perhaps to disable, an effort whose importance he
appreciates better than practically anyone: The ability of America's
unrivaled dominance in information technologies and techniques to contribute
to winning the war on terrorism. 
This is to take nothing away from Secretary Rumsfeld. To his credit, he has
responded to the latest charges with characteristic forthrightness and
courage, affirming the importance of public and press confidence in the
defense department's official declarations while underscoring the military's
need to use deception in appropriate circumstances to assure tactical and
strategic success. 
Unfortunately, in the process he felt compelled to rule out the use of
"disinformation." A press release issued by his office Wednesday declared
flatly, "Under no circumstances will the office [of Strategic Influence] or
its contractors knowingly or deliberately disseminate false information to
the American or foreign media or publics." 
To be sure, this is - and should be - the general rule. Yet, producing
misleading indications of our intentions and otherwise acting to deceive an
enemy is not merely a time-tested and -honored practice in warfare. It is in
some cases - D-Day comes to mind - essential to the success of military
operations and, most especially, to keeping U.S. combat casualties to an
absolute minimum. 
This is, arguably, even more true today than ever before. As the American
armed forces mount worldwide operations under the unblinking gaze of
seemingly omnipresent, 24/7 media coverage, the need to induce the enemy to
misapprehend our plans and intentions becomes all the more challenging, even
as it becomes ever more important. Secretary Rumsfeld needs to have
available to him creative ideas about how to accomplish that goal, and the
latitude necessary to act on such ideas where saving the lives of our
servicemen and women and/or our civilian populace may hang in the balance. 
Winston Churchill once trenchantly observed, "In a time of war, the truth is
so precious that it must be attended by a bodyguard of lies." It would be
regrettable, and potentially costly, if the Bush administration were to
allow itself to be bludgeoned into foreclosing the deception option to
protect truth and the lives of all those who treasure it.
Frank J. Gaffney Jr. held senior positions in the Reagan Defense Department.
He is currently the president of the Center for Security Policy.


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