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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Army social media psyops unit 77 Brigade is struggling to reel in new government cyber-warriors in spite of a recruitment publicity blitz last year, according to the Ministry of Defence.

The "brigade" – in reality a unit slightly smaller than an infantry battalion, with a target manning strength of 448 people – is under strength by about 40 per cent, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Of those 448, 182 of them are supposed to be full-time soldiers, sailors and airmen, while 266 are part-time reservists bringing in specialist skills from the civilian world.

A fortnight ago the unit, known as the Security Assistance Group (SAG) until July 2015, had only 276 personnel on its books. Just 123 of those were reservists, meaning 77 Bde has a shortfall of 29 regulars and 143 reserves.

In the last year just 125 soldiers were recruited to 77 Bde, or posted into it from elsewhere in the Army.

The unit forms part of the government's wider efforts to tackle hostile use of social media by, among others, Islamist terrorists, Russian hackers and state-backed fake news and propaganda agencies such as Russia Today (RT) and Iran's Press TV. In addition, it is also supposed to engage in the dark arts of destabilising Britain's foes by starting whispering campaigns among their supporters and potential supporters.

[...] "The shortfall in the reserve numbers is partly due to the recent increase in liability... but is, in the main, due to the fact 77 Brigade is a new formation and it takes time for this capability to be built up," he added.

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