Military's New Project: Social Media Propaganda

Guess what? A lot of them should be followed by the general public

(NEWSER) - The US Army has some rules for social media use—but even if you’re not a soldier, you might do well to adhere to some of those rules. From the Atlantic Wire :

• On Facebook: DO “spell check every post prior to posting; the Army’s reputation is at stake.”
• On Facebook: DON’T “use social media (teen) language in professional posts (ex: i wanna b ur bff 2day & 4evr)."

Actor's name used as flight call sign

(NEWSER) - Charlie Sheen won't likely bring his " Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour to Libya, but military flights bearing his name are doing a tour of their own. A Dutch radio buff monitoring and tweeting military communications has discovered that Libya flights by an Air Force cargo plane configured to broadcast psy-ops message have been going by the call sign "Sheen," Gawker reports. The EC-130 aircraft has been warning Libyan ships to remain in port or risk retaliation from coalition aircraft, Wired notes. Radar surveillance flights, meanwhile, have been given "Cylon" call signs—the name of the warlike cyborgs from Battlestar Galactica. More»

Activist hackers planning attack brig where WikiLeaker is being held

(NEWSER) - The group of activist hackers known as Anonymous has declared war on the US military, according to a self-styled—and not so anonymous—spokesman for the collective. Barrett Brown, who calls himself a "propagandist" for Anonymous, says the group plans to disrupt operations at the brig where accused WikiLeaker Bradley Manning is being held, MSNBC reports. Brown says the hacking will be revenge for the way Manning—who is now being forced to sleep naked —is being treated. More»

Sought to gain war support through propaganda techniques: Rolling Stone

(NEWSER) - In an illegal effort to build support for the war, a top US general in Afghanistan ordered troops trained in "psychological operations" to manipulate visiting lawmakers, reports Michael Hastings for Rolling Stone . Over a four-month period last year, Gen. William Caldwell reportedly pushed the psy-ops team to focus their work on lawmakers—the list of targets included John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Sen. Carl Levin, who was a key backer of Caldwell’s request last month for another $2 billion to train Afghan troops. But when the leader of Caldwell's "information operations" unit tried to oppose the plan, he later found himself the subject of a military investigation accusing him of unrelated inappropriate conduct. More»

US captain urges Afghan colonel to show faith to locals

(NEWSER) - A Baptist Army officer has teamed up with an Afghan mullah to fight Taliban propaganda that calls the Afghan army godless. “The only way we can keep people from becoming Taliban is by promoting the Muslim nature of the Afghan National Army,” says the mullah, Lt. Col. Abdul Haq. So Capt. James Hill, assigned as one of the US military's mentors to the Afghan Army, has been distributing prayer rugs and coaching Haq on how to show his faith to locals, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»