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fact. 518 It is this focus on cultural awareness that is important if the US is ever
to crack the code on how to “change attitudes and behavior.”
Putnam recommended two things. First he recommended that the US
should produce its own TV and newspaper outlets and that they conduct their
TV broadcasts in the evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. On such programs there
could be discussions of street rumors among various members of society and
there could be programs of benefit to the local populace such as how to file
damage claims. Newspapers distributed during the day could focus on coalition
messages and editorials, along with local Iraqi news, to supplement the nightly
TV programs. 519
Second, Putnam recommended that anti-insurgent and pro-coalition
perspectives should be put out on the Arab streets. He recommended trying to
use taxi cab drivers or market shoppers to do this. Additionally, if successful
inroads can be made with newspapers and TV channels, they might give the
“circle of influence” something to discuss. Perhaps such opinions would find
their way to the street. Putnam’s stress on countering the monopoly on anticoalition
propaganda that the insurgents spread melds perfectly with the
discussion in Chapter One for a counterinfluence supporting activity to US IO
theory.
As the discussion in Part Four revealed, other nations are not looking at
this issue of the mind in the same manner as the US, that is simply “changing
attitudes and behaviors” with information. Both the Russians and the Chinese
are engaged in studies of information weapons. The Russians are very
interested in finding ways to influence the brain whether it is by
parapsychological methods or by the use of chemicals/drugs or nonlethal
weapons. These latter two methods would not be considered as IO methods by
the US, but they are by Russia. The Russian National Security Council
sponsored one book in which author S. P. Rastorguyev attempted to develop an
algorithm generated “psycho virus” (similar to a computer virus but focused on
the brain) to influence attitudes and behavior.
The Chinese also have stepped up their study of cognitive space. One
article in the Chinese journal Contemporary Navy, for example, demonstrated a
Chinese penchant to look at events surrounding the manipulation of the mind in
a manner similar to the Russians. The Chinese article described efforts at
conducting mind control, using telepathy, and using secondary sound waves in
the 3-17 hz range, the latter case designed to shut down a human’s ability to
518 Ibid.
519 Ibid.
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