Politico | Pentagon weighs keeping Trump-era change to ‘psychological operations’
- Under the former administration, the defence department quietly moved to fast-track authorisation for the military’s influence campaigns abroad
- The Pentagon is mulling whether to maintain the change as it shifts focus to Russia and China, where information operations are at the forefront of the conflict
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Betsy Woodruff Swan and Lara Seligman on politico.com on May 17, 2021.
In the final months of the Trump administration, then-Defence Secretary Mark Esper quietly moved to let the military run influence campaigns – often called “psyops” – more quickly and with less time for input from the State Department.
The policy change, which eight people described to POLITICO, highlights tension between military leaders and diplomats about how the US handles grey-area operations that fall short of all-out war.
And now, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is weighing whether to maintain the change in policy, according to a senior defence official.
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The rule change comes as US troops are withdrawing from Afghanistan and the military shifts its focus to stand-offs with Russia and China – the kind of conflict where information operations are at the front lines.
It is unclear, however, whether Pentagon officials have used the new fast-track authority to conduct recent operations, and a top member of Congress overseeing the Pentagon said he was unaware of any such moves.