Ethics Newsline®

“Troops crossed the line of departure.”

– U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert, speaking on October 14 to CNN in an attempt to deceive insurgents in Falluja about the timing of last month’s U.S.-led offensive. The military’s attempt to dupe insurgents — the attack actually did not start until three weeks later — was part of a disinformation campaign that also effectively deceived U.S. viewers of CNN.

“Information is part of the battlefield in a way that it’s never been before. We’d be foolish not to try to use it to our advantage.”

– Unnamed senior Bush administration official, discussing the government’s use of psychological operations, also known as “psy-ops”

“The movement of information has gone from the public affairs world to the psychological operations world. What’s at stake is the credibility of people in uniform.”

– Unnamed senior Defense Department official, discussing the potential threat posed by psychological operations, propaganda, and disinformation used by the government