WT: Group will battle propaganda abroad

	[NOTE: Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally, the U.S. is getting into the
	propaganda game.  It's about time! We were starting to
	worry:-)   	-DG]

		=========================================================
		"The objective of IPI is to synchronize the informational 
		objectives, themes and messages that will be projected 
		overseas... to prevent and mitigate crises and to 
		influence foreign audiences in ways favorable to the 
		achievement of U.S. foreign policy objectives."
_____________	=========================================================
WASHINGTON TIMES

Wednesday, 28 July 1999

		Group will battle propaganda abroad
		-----------------------------------

	By Ben Barber

The Clinton administration begins work today on a new International 
Public Information group designed to "influence foreign audiences" in 
support of U.S. foreign policy and to counteract propaganda by enemies of 
the United States.

U.S. military, diplomatic and intelligence officials will participate in 
today's meeting of a core group to set up the IPI system of coordinating 
all overseas information among the various branches of the U.S. government.

The aim is "to enhance U.S. security, bolster America's economic 
prosperity and to promote democracy abroad," according to the IPI Core 
Group Charter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.

However, the charter also says that IPI control over "international 
military information" is intended to "influence the emotions, motives, 
objective reasoning and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, 
organizations, groups and individuals."

The charter makes clear that IPI activities "are overt and address 
foreign audiences only." But it also says domestic information should be 
"deconflicted" and "synchronized" so as not to send a contradictory message.

The Clinton administration also hopes to encourage the United Nations and 
other international organizations to make "effective use of IPI . . . in 
support of multilateral peacekeeping," the charter says.

Shocked by confusion during military missions in Kosovo and Haiti, when 
no U.S. agency was empowered to coordinate U.S. efforts to sell its 
policies and counteract bad press abroad, President Clinton on April 30 
issued a secret Presidential Decision Direction --PDD 68 -- ordering the 
creation of IPI.

"In the old days, the U.S. Information Agency and State were the main 
agencies for communicating internationally," said an administration official.

"With the information revolution, all agencies now have the ability to 
communicate internationally and interact with foreign populations," said 
the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"IPI is a mechanism that has been established to make sure that these 
various actors are working in a coordinated manner."

The charter insists that information distributed through IPI should be 
designed not "to mislead foreign audiences" and that information programs 
"must be truthful." But numerous clauses in the document have an 
Orwellian ring that gives the impression of a vast, coordinated 
propaganda operation.

"The objective of IPI is to synchronize the informational objectives, 
themes and messages that will be projected overseas . . . to prevent and 
mitigate crises and to influence foreign audiences in ways favorable to 
the achievement of U.S. foreign policy objectives," the charter says.

U.S. officials, and the text of the charter, explicitly state that the 
new information policy will not be used as a propaganda weapon against 
the American public --which is prohibited by U.S. law.

However, since foreign media reports often get played back in U.S. media, 
it will likely be impossible to prevent a backwash of the pro-U.S. 
information into America.

The charter recognizes this by calling for the government's domestic 
public affairs activities to be coordinated with its foreign IPI efforts.

Information aimed at domestic audiences should "be coordinated, 
integrated, deconflicted and synchronized with the [IPI Core Group] to 
achieve a synergistic effect for [government] strategic information 
activities," the charter says.

The administration official said that the IPI system is "geared towards 
prevention and mitigation of crises" and will remain active in peacetime 
"so we won't need to reconstitute the entire thing all the time."

Mr. Clinton's PDD 68, issued with no fanfare during the Kosovo bombing 
campaign, orders top officials from the Defense, State, Justice, Commerce 
and Treasury departments and the Central Intelligence Agency and FBI to 
meet and set up the core group.

Junior level officials from those agencies were to hold the first IPI 
planning session today at the State Department. By Friday, the IPI core 
group is required to issue a statement of its policies, programs and 
scope of its work.

Next Wednesday, senior-level officials meet under the chairmanship of 
Morton Halperin, policy planning director of the State Department, to 
firm up the IPI system.

While a large number of government agencies are involved, knowledge of 
the IPI effort has been closely held.

Aides to top officials in the State Department, USIA and Voice of America 
all said yesterday they knew little about the concept apart from a vague 
outline of its mission.

The IPI core group is also instructed by the charter to arrange "training 
exercises at the National Defense University, National Foreign Affairs 
Training Center, the Service War Colleges" and other institutions.

And its activities could go beyond broadcasts and press releases. The IPI 
core group is ordered by the presidential directive to "assist [U.S. 
government] efforts in defeating adversaries."

"The intelligence community will play a crucial role . . . for 
identifying hostile foreign propaganda and deception that targets the 
U.S.," the charter says.

	Copyright 1999 News World Communications, Inc.
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