DOD Civilians Push Psy-Ops Campaign on Americans: The Pentagon's planned Office of Strategic Influence (OSI) was quickly scrapped in 2002 after reports that it intended to plant false news stories in the international media. Yet the Los Angeles Times reports that ''much of OSI's mission has been assumed by offices through the U.S. government,'' part of a ''broad effort underway within the Bush administration'' to mix PR with psy-ops both abroad and at home. Military officials have taken a tepid view of the strategy. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, wrote an internal memo expressing concerns that U.S. military efforts ''could suffer if world audiences begin to question the honesty of statements from U.S. commanders and spokespeople'' Myers's warnings ''have not been heeded,'' however, likely because ''many top civilians at the Pentagon and National Security Council'' support the operations. Indeed, Pentagon officials report that ''the strategic communications programs at the Defense Department are being coordinated by the office of the undersecretary of Defense for policy, Douglas J. Feith,'' who Gen. Tommy Franks once described as the [expletive] stupidest guy on the face of the planet.
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