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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Get ready for The Pentagon's hip new online propaganda campaign [theregister.co.uk]:

The Pentagon has been given formal approval to start an online propaganda campaign against the Islamic State following a recent push by the US Department of Defense (DoD).

Congress approved the National Defense Authorization Act [congress.gov] for 2016 last week and included in it a whole section (1056) on "Information operations and engagement technology demonstrations."

The section states that the Secretary of Defense "should develop creative and agile concepts, technologies, and strategies across all available media to most effectively reach target audiences, and to counter and degrade the ability of adversaries and potential adversaries to persuade, inspire, and recruit inside areas of hostilities or in other areas in direct support of the objectives of commanders."

In other words: counter the unexpectedly sophisticated and effective propaganda machine that the Islamic State has put into place in Iraq and Syria.

The section authorizes the Pentagon to carry out these operations for seven years – until October 2022 – and notes that it expects funding requests in that time: "The Secretary of Defense should request additional funds in future budgets to carry out military information support operations to support the broader efforts of the Government to counter violent extremism."

George Washington University has published an analysis [gwu.edu] (PDF [gwu.edu]) of the "American Isis Twitter scene" [theguardian.com]. Don't do drugs and join ISIS, kids.

Original Submission