by Unknown
Converting the signal to one of higher frequency (to boost its range) enables transmission to another receiver near the car. That receiver retransmits the open command to the car. This method does not rely on breaking the encryption in the transmission between key and car. All that the thief has to do is retransmit it.
The problem is that the radio signal, the key, and the car use is at a frequency of 130 kHz (kilohertz) (about the middle of the AM radio dial) and it is short range because it is generated by an induction coil rather than a regular radio transmitter. This is because constant transmitting would drain the car’s battery and the car makers didn’t want the range to be too far. The short range of the signal offers some security. In order for the car to open, the key has to be able to pick up the signal and the car must be able to hear the key’s answer. For that to happen, the car and keys must be within a few yards or less of each other. Security is compromised because there is no way to turn it off; the key and car are always transmitting to each other. The range on the key signal, however, was great enough that the team was able to open a car from a key left on a kitchen table inside the house.
Psychological
Operations and
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Social Networks
Psychological Operations
Psychological operations (PSYOPs) are planned propaganda operations to convey purposeful information to designated audiences. It is the application of social psychology, sociology, and political psychology to influence individuals, groups, organizations, and governments in their motives, reasoning, emotions, and behavior. It is the deployment of the power of persuasion, use of motivation, and manipulation of communications sciences to influence an agenda.
U.S. Army Field Manual 31-20, Special Forces Operational Techniques,
says,
Basically, psychological operations is [sic] concerned with persuading people, or groups of people, to take actions favorable to one’s interests. In an insurgent situation, psychological operations can be called upon to persuade the people of the area to actively and willingly cooperate with the local government, disrupt the efforts of the insurgent, and assist in separating the insurgent from other elements of the nation’s population.
It goes on to say that,
In an unconventional warfare role psychological operations are designed
to achieve just the opposite effects: disassociation of the people with the government in power, creation of shared goals for the resistance movement and the population, and mutual help and cooperation between the guerril-las and the people to disrupt the efforts of the common enemy. (FM 31-20, 1971, p. 19)
The purpose of military PSYOPs is to induce or reinforce behavior that is favorable to military objectives. PSYOPs are also a critical part of the diplomatic, informational, and economic activities available to the government, particularly military, intelligence, and diplomatic agencies. They are utilized in both peacetime and during conflicts and have three perspectives: strategic, operational, and tactical. Strategic PSYOPs include informational activities conducted by government agencies outside of the military arena.
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Operational PSYOPs are conducted in support of military operations, including during peacetime, in a defined operational area to promote the
effectiveness of the joint force commander’s (JFC) campaigns and strate-
gies. Tactical PSYOPs are conducted in the area assigned to a tactical commander to support the tactical mission against OPFORS.
PSYOPs promote discontent with the opposition’s leadership by combin-
ing persuasion with a credible threat and degrade an adversary’s ability to conduct or sustain its own operations. PSYOP s disrupt, confuse, and pro-tract the adversary’s decision-making process and have the potential to lower OPFORS’ morale, efficiency, and will to fight. PSYOPs include information operations (IOs), such as electronic warfare, computer network operations, deception, and operations security (OPSEC) to influence or disrupt OPFORS
decision making.
PSYOPs use carefully crafted and disseminated product messages.
There are three types of propaganda used to create these messages. White, gray, and black do not refer to the propaganda’s content, but the methods used to carry out the operation. (1) White propaganda is (a) true and factual, (b) used in overt operations, and (c) acknowledged as an official statement or act and reflects an official viewpoint. (2) Gray propaganda is of a source that is deliberately ambiguous; the true source is not revealed to the target audience and the activity appears to plausibly emanate from a nonofficial source, an indigenous, nonhostile source, or no attribution is made at all. (3) Black propaganda is used in covert PSYOPs and appears to emanate from a source (government, organization, group, or person),
which is concealed or denied. Covert PSYOPs are used in special opera-
tions and are politically sensitive.
In order for PSYOPs to be successful, they must be based in reality
and all messages must be consistent and not contradictory. A credible truth must be presented, which is consistent to all audiences. Counter information can be used defensively and in support of special operations, uncon-
ventional warfare, and counterinsurgency (COIN) operations. They include
strikes and raids, counterterrorism operations, enforcement of sanctions
and maritime interception operations, peacekeeping operations, and non-
combatant evacuation. The PSYOP process (usually) involves (at least) 10
steps (Figure 7.1):
1. Clearly define the mission and objectives.
2. Prepare an estimate of the situation.
3. Prepare a plan of operations.
4. Determine the available and best suited media.
5. Develop a message product.
6. Pretesting to determine the probable impact on the target audience.
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The President and/or SecDef, combatant commander, U.S. Country Team, and JFC can approve PSYOP themes, messages, and products.
President
Product approval
Advices President and/or SecDef
and/or
Directive authority
CJCS
on product approval policy
SecDef
No directive authority
Combatant
Product approval authority
May exercise COCOM/OPCON
Country team
commander
of POTF
Peacetime PSYOP
Themes, objectives, and product approval authority
themes, objectives,
JFC
when authorized by the President and/or SecDef and
and product approval
combatant commander
authority
Exercises OPCON of POTF
Senior military
supervises day-to-day
activities
Service or
functional
No product approval authority
Exercises ADCON of attached PSYOP units
commander
Maneuver
May request product approval authority consistent with
commander
approved themes and objectives
May request OPCON of attached PSYOP units
Figure 7.1 U.S. army FM 3-05.30 psychological operations. (Available at http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-05-30.pdf, 2005.)
7. Production and dissemination of PSYOP material (propaganda).
8. Implementation of the plan and operation.
9. Posttesting to evaluate audience responses.
10. Debrief and analyze feedback to determine any modifications to be
implemented.
Military PYSOPs: Psychological Warfare
Psychologic
al warfare has been used since the wars of ancient Asia, the Bible, Alexander the Great, and before. They were prominent in WWII and typified personas, such as Tokyo Rose. It involves the use of military, political, and economic means to a tactical or strategic advantage. Sun Tzu said that the best kind of victory was one in which you never have to fight.
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feel-ings, and behaviors are influenced by actual, imagined, or implied social or behavioral factors. Social psychology is an interdisciplinary field combining psychology and sociology. Social psychologists explain human behavior in
terms of the interaction of psychological and social factors. During the years immediately following WWII, there was frequent collaboration between
psychologists and sociologists, particularly in the areas of motivation, communications, and persuasion.
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Motivation is the driving force by which we achieve our goals. It is the intrinsic or extrinsic causes for behavior. According to behavioral science theories, motivation may be based on a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure and may include (1) specific needs, such as eating and resting; (2) a desired object, goal, state of being, and ideal; or (3) less-apparent factors, such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or immortality. Motivation should not be confused with volition or optimism; although related to emotion, it is distinct from it.
Communications is the articulation and sending of a message, by verbal or nonverbal means. Communication is the process by which any message is
given or received through talking, writing, or gestures. It can be defined as the process of interaction, the act of passing information, and the process by which meanings are exchanged so as to produce understanding.
Persuasion is an active method of influence that attempts to guide people toward the adoption of an attitude, idea, or behavior by rational or emotive means. Persuasion relies on appeals rather than strong pressure or coercion.
Propaganda and Counterpropaganda
Black propaganda purports to emanate from a source other than the true one and is used most often to support strategic plans. Gray propaganda does not identify and cannot be identified with a source. Clandestine radio is a major medium for disseminating both black and gray propaganda. Both
are also tools for the use of tactical deception, that is, the dissemination of information that supports or confirms the deception story and its objectives.
Behavior factors that are important include perception, motivation, frustration, and attitude. Communications can arouse needs and emotions to per-
suade a target audience to change attitudes and behavior.
Propaganda is the sales pitch or the message (point of view) that involves the deliberate spreading, by any means of communication, the doctrine,
ideas, facts, argument, information, allegations, or appeals to advance a proponent’s cause or inure an opponent’s cause. Propaganda must (1) be
based in reality, (2) be credible and not contradictory, (3) gain attention immediately, (4) awaken awareness, and (5) reinforce and give permanence
to actions.
Counterpropaganda is designed to counteract an opponent’s propa-
ganda and exploit its vulnerabilities. Techniques include (1) conditioning (education and information), (2) forestalling (counteracting), (3) minimizing the subject (emphasizing the favorable aspects, insinuating that
the entire story cannot be told at this time, and/or briefly mentioning the story and dropping it), (4) direct refutation (point by point), (5) indirect
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refutation (introduction of new, relevant themes), (6) diversionary propaganda (divert attention), (7) imitative deception (alteration of the opponent’s propaganda to give a different slant that appears to be from the same source), (8) silence (ignore it), and (9) restrictive measures (isolate or deny access to the target audience).
Political PYSOPs
Political psychology is an interdisciplinary field that studies the relationship between psychological factors and political factors, with an emphasis on
human thought, emotion, and behavior in politics. It is the analysis of political issues and factors.
Political warfare is the use of political means to compel an opponent to do one’s will. The term political refers to the calculated interaction between a government and a target audience, including another country’s government
or general population. Governments use a variety of tactics and techniques to coerce actions and gain an advantage over an opponent. Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence with the goal of changing the perceptions or behavior of others through deception.
Lawfare is the use of domestic or international law to harass or damage an opponent, such as winning a public relations victory, depleting an opponent’s finances, or manipulating the opponent’s time so that they are distracted from implementing their opposing objectives. One example of
lawfare involved former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger when he faced questioning and possible prosecution in France, Brazil, and England (initiated by Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón) because of Kissinger’s
involvement as a Nixon administration official with a South American pro-
gram of abductions, torture, and assassinations known as Operation Condor.
Kissinger warned that universal jurisdiction risks “substituting the tyranny of judges for that of governments.”
Techniques of Harassment and Revenge:
The Dirty Tricks Department
The Kennedy Administration used the CIA to plan an operation to cause
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s beard to fall out as a dirty trick designed to embarrass Castro and eliminate his symbol of personal charisma. A decade
later, the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) effectively used techniques of harassment to distract members of the DNC in the 1972 election
(until the Watergate affair erupted). CREEP followed opposing candidates
around to implement distracting harassment techniques, such as canceling
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hotel reservations, ordering pizzas to be delivered and billed to opponents, and putting controversial bumper stickers on cars at rallies.
In the 1970s, there was a series of books on techniques of harassment
and revenge (by those titles), which outlined various tactics for exactly that: harassment and revenge. Many of the techniques employed could be
referred to as the poor man’s PSYOPs and could rank right up there with those employed by Kennedy’s CIA experts and CREEP. While many of the
techniques are outdated, with the evolution of society and technology, many are timeless and are worth knowing, especial y if you are an intel igence officer, law enforcement investigator, security consultant, political advisor, or
anyone who wants to defend themselves from such tricks.
A college acquaintance I once knew initiated an action against one of his former friends (a professor). It was a devious and brutal plan and the target was miserable for months. I think he even lost his job and moved away. Oh, and the instigator… he’s dead. He died at home alone and lonely. Moral of the story: tend toward the side of the morally right. If in doubt, choose righteousness over revenge. I will not take this opportunity to lecture on morality, ethics, or the righteousness of anyone’s cause. Hopefully, each reader has a moral compass that discerns right and wrong. Choose the high road and do
not involve innocent people (such as family members or persons who will
lose something without being involved). I am also going to save a lecture on the legality of such tactics for another lecture. You should always consult competent legal counsel for any legal questions. If your objective is to dis
rupt the elections in Columbia or Iran, well, you better talk with someone at a higher pay grade. Our objective here is awareness, that is, awareness of the techniques of harassment and revenge available from the dirty tricks department.
Experts from the dirty tricks department will tell you that the objective is to create as much distraction and cause as much harassing disruption to the target as possible without being discovered as the source. Aside from civil and possibly criminal litigation, discovery could expose the source of these tactics to have them turned against him or her—perhaps even worse.
So, a few preliminaries are advisable. First, make a plan beforehand and be as complete and careful as possible; a chronological, written plan or chart may be in order. Second, assemble a dossier of information and intelligence on the target; know home and business addresses and phone numbers, e-mail
addresses, schedules and patterns, vehicle descriptions and information, etc., which are vital. Third, avoid contact with the target yourself; you do not want to be seen or your voice recognized and give your identity away (refer back to the first two sentences of this paragraph). Fourth, use other sources to multiply the effect of your plan by arranging for others to do your work without tying up your time. (You will see what this means as we elaborate.)
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Dirty Tricks: Nasty Pranks
Every teenager remembers a few little pranks like dipping a sleeping per-
son’s hand in a pan of warm water to make them wet themselves or putting
shaving cream in their hand and running a feather under their nose to get them to rub the shaving cream in their own face. Well, that’s not really spy tactics (like debearding Castro for the Kennedy Administration was). There is always Nair, Neat, or similar hair removal products in the shampoo or cream rinse bottles. (This is a little closer to the CIA Castro beard caper.) What about Ex-Lax chips in the cookies or Milk of Magnesia in the milk?
I once knew a detective (we’ll just call him Ralph) who was called to Internal Affairs and took syrup of ipecac before reporting with his attorney. He threw up on the Internal Affairs investigator. (Let’s make that “Ralph! ! !”) I have been told that eyedrops in drinks have a similar effect. Oh, by the way, that former detective is also dead now (note that this is an emerging theme of some kind). OK, let’s file these under juvenile, but sometimes effective, little cheap tricks.
