[R-G] Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) against Venezuela

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/4296

Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) against Venezuela
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March 15th 2009, by Eva Golinger - Axis of Logic

A secret document of the US Army National Ground Intelligence Center,  
recently declassified in part, through the application of the US  
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), confirms that the Pentagon's most  
powerful team for psychological operations is employing its forces  
against Venezuela.1 The document, dating from the year 2006, analyses  
the border situation between Colombia and Venezuela. It was drafted by  
the US Army's 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) (4th PSYOP  
Group (A) or 4th POG) and the US Army National Ground Intelligence  
Center, a fact that thus reaffirms that the same psychological warfare  
team operates in the region against Venezuela.

The small part of the text of the secret document which was left  
uncensored explains how the Plan Patriot (previously known as Plan  
Colombia) has successfully pushed the activities of the Revolutionary  
Armed Forces of Colombia ((FARC), Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de  
Colombia) into Venezuelan territory. It is explicitly being emphasized  
in the secret document that

     "...the offensive operations of Plan Patriot and its counterparts  
of the Colombian military have had an important impact on the  
activities of the Eastern Bloc [of the FARC]...due to the success  
achieved against some fronts of the Eastern Bloc in Colombia, several  
fronts of the Eastern Bloc are conducting more combat and regenerated  
their activities at the Colombian-Venezuelan border. The Mini-Blocs in  
the Llanos and the eastern zone... have assumed distinct strategic  
roles in response to the Plan Patriot 2B..."

The arrival of the US Army's 4th Psychological Operations Group  
(Airborne) in Colombia in the year 2006 and the strategy of pushing  
the FARC and the Colombian civil conflict into Venezuelan territory  
cannot be taken as a coincidence; for it is exactly the moment when  
the US State Department and the Pentagon also started to publicly  
accuse Venezuela of collaborating with terrorism, specifically by  
referring to alleged dealings with the FARC. In the first semester of  
2006 Washington added Venezuela to a list of "countries that do not  
fully collaborate in the struggle against terrorism", and then imposed  
sanctions against the South American country that resulted in the  
prohibition of the sales of arms from the United States and from any  
international company that uses US technology. The 2006 report of the  
US State Department said,

     "The Secretary of State certified Venezuela as "not fully  
cooperating" with U.S. antiterrorism efforts... It remained unclear to  
what extent the Government of Venezuela provided material support to  
Colombian terrorists, if it did, and on which level..." (Report of the  
US State Department of 2006, available at www.state.gov)2

A few months later, in July 2006, the United States House Foreign  
Affairs Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation,  
held a hearing titled "Venezuela: Terrorism Hub of South America?", in  
which they declared that

     "Venezuela, under President Hugo Chavez, has tolerated terrorists  
on its soil and has forged close relationships with officially  
designated state sponsors of terrorism: Cuba, Iran and North Korea.  
Colombian terrorist groups use Venezuelan territory for safe haven...".3

At the same time, the international press started to promote a matrix  
of opinion, associating Venezuela with terrorism. Articles and  
editorials published by the Washington Post, the New York Times, the  
Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal, El País of Spain, El Tiempo  
of Bogota, and the Miami Herald, amongst others, repeated time and  
again [affirmations about] the alleged link between the Venezuelan  
government and the FARC in Colombia, although they never provided any  
conclusive proof. All the evidences were based on "anonymous" sources,  
"high-level officials in Washington", and "analysts", without giving  
any concrete names, data or facts.

THE PROPAGANDA WARRIORS


The US Army's 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) is the  
only active psychological operations unit.4  It comprises 1.300  
officials and constitutes 26% of all US Army psychological operation  
units, the remaining 74% consist of reservists. By the year 2011, it  
is foreseen that the unit would eventually grow to approximately 2.300  
troops who are experts in psychological operations. The official  
mission of the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) is to  
deploy anywhere in the world on short notice to plan, develop and  
conduct psychological operations and "Civil Affairs" (in other words,  
subversion) in support of coalition forces and Washington's government  
agencies.

The personnel of the 4th Group include regional experts and linguists  
who have a profound understanding of the political, cultural, ethnic,  
and religious subtleties of the target audience. They are also experts  
in technical areas such as journalism, radio operations, graphic  
design, newspaper business, illustration, and long-range tactical  
communications.

In 2003, the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) of the US  
Army inaugurated an installation for media operations of the Special  
Operations Forces (SOP) at a cost of US$ 8.1 million. Said  
installation is known as the Pentagon's production center for all its  
psychological operations and their "products", like flyers, pamphlets,  
posters, and segments for television and radio transmission that are  
all aimed at persuading and winning the minds and hearts of those who  
the Pentagon wants to attack. For example, more than 150 million  
flyers and pamphlets - all produced and printed in the installation of  
the Group 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) - have been  
disseminated throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. Colonel James Treadwell,  
Commander of the 4th Group, emphasized that more than 16.000 hours of  
messages for radio transmission were produced by his group and  
transmitted in Afghanistan and more than 4.000 in Iraq. The printer's  
in the new installation has a capacity to print more than 1 million  
pamphlets per day.

The psychological operations troops study techniques in "marketing"  
and publicity before they design their "products". They also analyze  
in detail their impact and results. They are complete experts in  
propaganda and in the best ways to exert influence on public opinion  
so as to promote their agenda. In 2005, said unit of "propaganda  
warriors" was expanded through the foundation of the Joint  
Psychological Operations Support Element (JPOSE), with Colonel  
Treadwell being in command of the entire joint team. Transferred from  
Iraq to the headquarters of JPOSE in Tampa, Florida, Colonel Treadwell  
began to focus his propaganda activities towards the South. In press  
statements Treadwell confirmed that his new elite team for  
psychological operations would direct a part of the work to Bolivia  
and Venezuela. A little later, a contract (worth up to US$ 100  
million) was awarded to the company, Science Applications  
International Corporation (SAIC) to help design the "campaigns" of  
psychological operations together with JPOSE. Two other companies,  
Lincoln Group and SYColeman, also received similar contracts financed  
through the team's budget, a budget that surpasses US$ 8 billion per  
year.

 From these companies, SAIC has a pretty dirty past history in  
Venezuela. It was the company that, together with PDVSA, the state  
owned petroleum industry, constructed a mixed company named INTESA  
that began to automate the petroleum industry in Venezuela in 1995.  
And INTESA was the same company that executed one of the most brutal  
sabotage acts against the Venezuelan industry at the end of the year  
2002, with the intention to force President Hugo Chávez out of power.  
The company was used as a platform to attack the "brains of PDVSA" by  
destroying its entire data-base and automated systems and converting  
it again into a manually operating company. Their actions caused  
billions of dollars of damage to the Venezuelan economy and its  
international reputation as a secure petroleum provider and producer.  
Nevertheless, they did not reach their objective to topple President  
Chávez, and little later INTESA was closed and forced to cease their  
operations in the country. Three years later, their new contracts  
appeared - to carry out psychological operations against the same  
government they previously had tried to neutralize without success.

Since the United States' most powerful team of psychological  
operations is working actively against Venezuela, the fruits of their  
work have been seen both on an international level and also within the  
country on a national level.5  President Chávez is already classified  
as "dictator" in international public opinion and there are few who  
would doubt his alleged "dealings" with the FARC in Colombia - despite  
the fact that there was never a single proof offered that would  
confirm such "dealings".

Psychological operations are considered by the Pentagon to be their  
"most powerful weapon" to date. Through screens, broadcasting  
stations, newspapers, posters, design of clothes and objects, they  
transmit their purposeful and well planned message to subtly exert  
influence on public opinion and perceptions about topics of interest.  
It is the new battlefield where all of us are forced to assume a role,  
because nobody escapes from information and communication in today's  
world. It is the struggle for truth and justice against lies and  
manipulation. The decision to be either victim or combatant within  
that asymmetric war is in the hands of each of us. Don't be fooled.

Translator's notes:

    1. T.n.: For groundbreaking evidence on the extent to which the  
Bush administration illegally aided the opposition, influenced the  
Venezuelan military, and directly and indirectly supported the coup of  
April 2002, see Eva Golinger's outstanding investigation: The Chávez  
Code: Cracking U.S. Intervention in Venezuela. Havana, Cuban Book  
Institute, 2005. Available also in Spanish, Italian, and German  
language.

    2. T.n.: see http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/82735.htm

    3. T.n.: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on International  
Terrorism and Proliferation. 2006. VENEZUELA: TERRORISM HUB OF SOUTH  
AMERICA? Document available at The Center for International Policy's  
National Security Program

    4. T.n.: Concerning the information resumed in this and the  
following paragraph, and for further details please see Global Security

    5. T.n.: In this context we highly recommend to our Spanish- 
speaking readers the excellent documentary "Enjambre" (a Guarataro  
Films & Venezolana de Televisión Production) that analyses the  
Networking doctrine, the concept of Fourth Generation Warfare and its  
application in Venezuela. While we continue making every effort to  
help provide an English version of this documentary, here's our  
translation of the brief summary provided originally by Rebelión in  
Spanish language:

     [...] Introduction: The concepts "Fourth Generation Warfare" and  
"Networking".

     Past History: Parallels between the 2002 coup d'état in Venezuela  
and the coup against Allende.

     Networking in Venezuela: How Fourth Generation Warfare works in  
Venezuela. The opposition's change in strategy. By 2006-2007, the  
opposition focuses on the exploitation and manipulation of social and  
political problems. New political actors appear. Media Warfare and  
Psychological Operations. Assassination. Declarations of journalists  
about Chávez' death or assassination. TV-series about the  
assassination of Chávez or a [military] invasion in Venezuela.  
Parallels to the Chilean case. Plan shattered in Venezuela.

     Military encirclement: Plan Colombia, Plan Balboa, Paramilitaries  
and US military bases.

     Resistance: Examples of resistance struggles. Vietnam, Cuba, and  
Middle East. Asymmetrical warfare and the reserves or militia.  
Civilian-military union. April 13th. [...]