Editing Psychological warfare (section)

===United States===
{{See also|Psychological operations (United States)}}

[[File:US Army soldier hands out a newspaper to a local Aug 2004.jpg|thumb|U.S. Army soldier hands out a newspaper to a local in [[Mosul]], [[Iraq]].]]
[[File:U.S. Army loudspeaker team in action in Korea.jpg|thumb|U.S. Army loudspeaker team in action in Korea]]

The term psychological warfare is believed to have migrated from Germany to the United States in 1941.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Wall | first=Tyler | title=U.S. Psychological Warfare and Civilian Targeting | journal=Peace Review | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=22 | issue=3 | date=18 August 2010 | issn=1040-2659 | doi=10.1080/10402659.2010.502070 | pages=288–294| s2cid=144498009 }}</ref> During World War II, the United States [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] defined psychological warfare broadly, stating "Psychological warfare employs ''any'' weapon to influence the mind of the enemy. The weapons are psychological only in the effect they produce and not because of the weapons themselves."<ref>From "Overall Strategic Plan for the United States' Psychological Warfare, " 1 March 1943, JCS Records, Strategic Issues, Reel 11.  Quoted in {{Cite book|title=Austria in World War II|author=Robert H. Keyserlingk|page=131|date=July 1990|isbn=978-0-7735-0800-2|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press}}</ref> The [[U.S. Department of Defense]] (DoD) currently defines psychological warfare as:
<blockquote>"The planned use of propaganda and other [[psychological]] actions having the primary purpose of influencing the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to support the achievement of national objectives."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vp01.cfm?outfit=pmt&folder=64&paper=665 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011155947/http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/vp01.cfm?outfit=pmt&folder=64&paper=665 |archive-date=2011-10-11 |title=Glossary of Relevant Terms & Acronyms Propaganda and Psychological Warfare Studies University of Leeds UK |access-date=2008-04-19 |author=Phil Taylor |year=1987 |publisher=University of Leeds UK |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>

This definition indicates that a critical element of the U.S. psychological operations capabilities includes propaganda and by extension [[counterpropaganda]]. Joint Publication 3–53 establishes specific policy to use public affairs mediums to counter propaganda from foreign origins.<ref>{{cite web |last=Garrison |first=WC |year=1999 |title=Information Operations and Counter-Propaganda: Making a Weapon of Public Affairs |work=Strategy Research Project, U.S. Army War College |page=12 |url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a363892.pdf |access-date=4 April 2012 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010062709/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a363892.pdf |url-status=live }}<!-- 12 ? --></ref>

The purpose of [[United States]] psychological operations is to induce or reinforce attitudes and behaviors favorable to US objectives.  The [[Special Activities Center]] (SAC) is a division of the Central Intelligence Agency's [[National Clandestine Service|Directorate of Operations]], responsible for Covert Action and "Special Activities". These special activities include covert political influence (which includes psychological operations) and paramilitary operations.<ref name="Daugherty-2004">Executive Secrets: Covert Action and the Presidency, William J. Daugherty, University of Kentucky Press, 2004.</ref>  SAC's political influence group is the only US unit allowed to conduct these operations covertly and is considered the primary unit in this area.<ref name="Daugherty-2004"/>

A U.S. Army field manual released in January 2013 states that "Inform and Influence Activities" are critical for describing, directing, and leading military operations. Several Army Division leadership staff are assigned to “planning, integration and synchronization of designated information-related capabilities."<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-gearing-up-to-fight-the-pr-war/2013/02/06/b3a9a582-6ef0-11e2-aa58-243de81040ba_story.html "Pentagon gearing up to fight the PR war"] ''Washington Post'', 6 February 2013</ref>

Journalist and fiction writer [[P. W. Singer|P.W. Singer]], author of ''Wired for War,'' teaches military leaders about how to incorporate "useful fiction" stories and narrative structure into military psyops.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newitz |first=Annalee |title=Stories are Weapons: Psychological Warfare the American Mind |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=2024 |isbn=978-0-393-88151-6 |pages=194}}</ref>

In September 2022, the DoD launched an audit of covert information warfare after social media companies identified a suspected U.S. military operation.<ref name="wp-20220919">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/19/pentagon-psychological-operations-facebook-twitter/ |title=Pentagon opens sweeping review of clandestine psychological operationns |last=Nakashima |first=Ellen |newspaper=Washington Post |date=19 September 2022 |access-date=24 November 2022}}</ref>