How The Government Legalized Propaganda In 2012

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The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 was created to explicitly forbid information and psychological operations aimed at influencing U.S. public opinion. Information and psychological operations were primarily used to target foreign audiences by the U.S. Government.

In 2012 the Smith Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 was passed which effectively allows the direct deployment of these tactics on the American public. In 2012 Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, who released a highly critical report regarding the distortion of truth by senior military officials in Iraq and Afghanistan, dedicated a section of his report to Information Operations (IO) and states that after Desert Storm the military wanted to transform IO “into a core military competency on a par with air, ground, maritime and special operations.”

In 2012 Davis quotes Brigadier General Ralph O. Baker — the Pentagon officer responsible for the Department of Defense’s Joint Force Development (i.e. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines) — who defines IO as activities undertaken to “shape the essential narrative of a conflict or situation and thus affect the attitudes and behaviors of the targeted audience” and equates descriptions of combat operations with standard marketing strategies

For years, commercial advertisers have based their advertisement strategies on the premise that there is a positive correlation between the number of times a consumer is exposed to product advertisement and that consumer’s inclination to sample the new product. The very same principle applies to how we influence our target audiences.

In 2012 Davis subsequently explains the “cumulative failure of our nation’s major media in every category” as they continually interviewed only those senior U.S. officials who had top-level access, even as the officials given that clearance were required to stick to “talking points” given to them by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

When Obama signed the HR 4310 , The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act the Smith Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 was included. Obama legalized that the State Department and Pentagon can go beyond manipulating mainstream media outlets and directly disseminate campaigns of misinformation to the U.S. public.

Link to Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2012:
www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr5736ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr5736ih.pdf
From the Act:
‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors from engaging in any medium or form of communication, either directly or indirectly, because a United States domestic audience is or may be thereby exposed to program material, or based on a presumption of such exposure. Such material may be made available within the United States and disseminated, when appropriate, pursuant to sections 502 and 1005 of the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. 1462 and 1437), except that nothing in this section may be construed to authorize the Department of State or the Broadcasting Board of Governors to disseminate within the United States any program material prepared for dissemination abroad on or before the effective date of the Smith Mundt Modernization Act of 2012.”
22 U.S.C. 1462:
“In authorizing international information activities under this chapter, it is the sense of the Congress (1) that the Secretary and the Broadcasting Board of Governors shall reduce such Government information activities whenever corresponding private information dissemination is found to be adequate; (2) that nothing in this chapter shall be construed to give the Department or the Broadcasting Board of Governors a monopoly in the production or sponsorship on the air of short-wave broadcasting programs, or a monopoly in any other medium of information.”
22 U.S.C. 1473:
“In carrying out the provisions of this chapter it shall be the duty of the Secretary and the Broadcasting Board of Governors to utilize, to the maximum extent practicable, the services and facilities of private agencies, including existing American press, publishing, radio, motion picture, and other agencies, through contractual arrangements or otherwise. It is the intent of Congress that the Secretary and the Broadcasting Board of Governors shall encourage participation in carrying out the purposes of this chapter by the maximum number of different private agencies in each field consistent with the present or potential market for their services in each country.”

So, as you have read, the U.S. Government made it legal, in 2012, to use propaganda, information, and psychological operations against the American public. This is done through the mainstream media, movies, tv shows, and actual events. But don’t take my word for it, do your own research on this.

Here is a video explaining the Smith Mundt Modernization Act of 2012 and the legalization of propaganda to be used against Americans.

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