Trust the computer -- the computer is your friend

From BBC News:

A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military’s plans for “information operations” - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.

Bloggers beware.

As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer.

From influencing public opinion through new media to designing “computer network attack” weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war.

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The operations described in the document include a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks.

All these are engaged in information operations.

Perhaps the most startling aspect of the roadmap is its acknowledgement that information put out as part of the military’s psychological operations, or Psyops, is finding its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans.

“Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience,” it reads.

“Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public,” it goes on.

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And, in a grand finale, the document recommends that the United States should seek the ability to “provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum”.

US forces should be able to “disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum”.

Conspiracy theories: they’re not just for nutjobs anymore.

And then there’s this, from the Newspeakishly named Transportation Security Administration:

The Registered Traveler programs will be market-driven and offered by the private sector. Individual participation in a Registered Traveler program will be entirely voluntary, with prices established by private sector providers. TSA will mandate a core RT security assessment for each applicant to a Registered Traveler program. If RT providers undertake more in-depth security background checks (e.g., by using commercial data specifically authorized by customers, or by other voluntary means), TSA will offer a variety of enhanced or time-saving participant benefits at passenger screening checkpoints. Participants may receive significant efficiency benefits over what exists today, if additional security is added by a more thorough background check.

We know that terrorists may seek to exploit the Registered Traveler program, and the program must be designed to thwart those efforts. Therefore, program benefits will change from time to time in order to make it more difficult for terrorists to anticipate our security activities. Further, TSA will not exempt Registered Traveler participants from random additional screening.

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

Dr. Richard O’Connor -- clearly not an Xer -- says this on his site Undoing Depression:

It seems like a lot of people are worried about Generation X growing into adulthood. The bored, cynical, nihilistic attitude adopted by so many of today’s young people seems to be a symptom of a depressed generation.

The article is undated, but it must be pretty old since even the youngest members of Generation X are now well into their adult years. But I think it’s safe to say that if we Xers are depressed, we can mark that down as having more to do with our worst fears being realized than to our being constitutionally predisposed to being miserable without cause.

On September 26, 2001, there was a headline in The Onion that read ”Report: Gen X Irony, Cynicism May Be Permanently Obsolete.” Perhaps... but if it is, it’s cuz no matter how cynical we get, we just can’t keep up.