Dezinformatsia (book)

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Dezinformatsia
Dezinformatsia book.jpg
Dezinformatsia
Authors Richard H. Shultz and Roy Godson
Original titleDezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy
LanguageEnglish
Subject Disinformation
Genrenon-fiction
PublisherPergamon-Brassey's
Publication date
1984
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePaperback
Pages210
ISBN 978-0-08-031573-7
Followed byThe Soviet Union and Revolutionary Warfare (1990) 
[1] [2] [3]

Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy (and a later edition published as Dezinformatsia: The Strategy of Soviet Disinformation) is a non-fiction book about disinformation and information warfare used by the KGB during the Soviet Union period, as part of their active measures tactics. The book was co-authored by Richard H. Shultz, professor of international politics at Tufts University, and Roy Godson, professor emeritus of government at Georgetown University.

Contents

Shultz and Godson discuss Soviet disinformation tactics including injection of Communist propaganda through covert groups within the U.S.S.R. tasked with disrupting activities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the U.S. The book explains disinformation methods including forgery as covert operation, agents of influence, and using social influence to turn targets into useful idiots. They focus on disinformation activities of Soviet intelligence from 1960 to 1980. Shultz and Godson discuss case studies as examples of Soviet disinformation, including a French journalist covertly financed by Russian agents in order to publish biased material against Western interests, and the front organization activities of the World Peace Council. They back up their analyses with two Soviet intelligence defectors.

Foreign Affairs called the book a "useful survey" of how Soviet intelligence used disinformation "to further its strategic aims such as discrediting America and weakening NATO". [4] The Journal of Conflict Studies described it as "a useful introduction to a field of knowledge" of importance to security experts, the United States Intelligence Community, and diplomats. [1] Society called Dezinformatsia, "a highly readable and insightful book". [2] Political Science Quarterly gave the work a negative review, criticizing the book's writing style and methodological rigor. [3]

Background

Author Roy Godson 2017 March 30 Roy Godson.png
Author Roy Godson

Richard H. Shultz received his PhD in political science from Miami University in 1976, and during the period 1977–1978 did post-doctoral work at the University of Michigan. [5] Shultz became part of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University as international politics professor in 1983, and rose to become director of the International Security Studies Program (ISSP). [6] Shultz was the only non-government member of the Special Operations Policy Advisory Group for the United States Department of Defense. [6] After the publication of Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy, Shultz authored another book on Soviet war tactics: The Soviet Union and Revolutionary Warfare. [7]

Roy Godson graduated with a PhD from Columbia University, with a focus on international politics and national security. [8] Godson is a Georgetown University emeritus professor of government. [9] Godson testified before the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2017, to give background on the Senate investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. [10] He has served as president of the National Strategy Information Center, Washington, D.C. [11] Godson went on to author and edit multiple other books on covert operations and intelligence, including: Dirty Tricks or Trump Cards, [12] and Comparing Foreign Intelligence. [13]

Contents summary

Roy Godson's 2017 testimony to the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, drawing from his book Dezinformatsia Disinformation- A Primer in Russian Active Measures and Influence.pdf
Roy Godson's 2017 testimony to the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, drawing from his book Dezinformatsia

Dezinformatsia describes disinformation tactics used by the intelligence services of the Soviet Union including the KGB, against foreign enemies including the United States. The authors define disinformation as: "false, incomplete, or misleading information that is passed, fed, or confirmed to a targeted individual, group, or country." [14]

The book explains the covert groups within the Soviet Union tasked with disrupting government activities of the countries belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the U.S., through injection of Communist propaganda. [1] The authors place the Soviet policy of active measures within a broader strategy of Russian military deception in favor of domestic national security. [1] They focus their discussion on disinformation conducted by the Soviet intelligence between the period of 1960–1980. [1] [2] [3]

Shultz and Godson note that manipulated groups involve both official departments of the Soviet state, as well as non-governmental organizations which lack independence from the state control itself. Specific goals exported by covert Soviet government channels and groups in the Western world were financed by Soviet intelligence operations. These covert operations were coordinated so as to have maximum impact related to major international incidents. [1] [2] [3]

Graphic showing differences between disinformation, misinformation and hoax. (Wikimedia Foundation presentation) Disinformation vs Misinformation.svg
Graphic showing differences between disinformation, misinformation and hoax.
(Wikimedia Foundation presentation)

As a case study of disinformation, the authors describe journalist Pierre-Charles Pathé  [ fr ], whose publication in France was secretly financed by Soviet intelligence. Its contents were biased against the Western world in favor of the Soviet agenda, and had considerable impact on public opinion. In another example, the authors bring forth an analysis of the World Peace Council, which operated as a front organization for Soviet intelligence. They discuss its operations negatively impacting both NATO and the U.S. Shultz and Godson back up their analyses with interviews from two Soviet officials who had defected from their posts in Soviet intelligence, and spoke of disinformation campaigns against Western interests. [1] [2] [3]

The authors detail commonly used disinformation tactics by the Soviet intelligence agencies, including forgery as covert operation in order to fool target dupes into believing such fabricated documents were real. Additionally, the writers explain how Soviet covert spies were able to bring agents of influence into their fold and do their bidding, whether knowingly or through social influence as a useful idiot. [1] [2] [3]

Shultz and Godson note that after the Soviet term dezinformatsia became widely known in the 1980s in the English language as disinformation, native speakers of English broadened the term as "any government communication (either overt or covert) containing intentionally false and misleading material, often combined selectively with true information, which seeks to mislead and manipulate either elites or a mass audience." [1] [2] [3]

Release and reception

Dezinformatsia was released in a paperback edition in 1984. [15] [16] It was issued again in paperback in 1986 under the same title, [17] [18] and also with the different title — Dezinformatsia: The Strategy of Soviet Disinformation. [19]

John C. Campbell reviewed the book for the journal Foreign Affairs , and wrote: "The Shultz/Godson book is a useful survey of how the Soviet Union uses 'disinformation,' propaganda, agents, covert political techniques and front organizations to influence events in foreign countries and to further its strategic aims such as discrediting America and weakening NATO." [4] Campbell criticized the dry nature of some of the facts revealed in the book, "Parts of the presentation are novel, but the revelations are not particularly sensational." [4] Campbell concluded stories in the book should not be taken at face value, "The author's KGB experience and background doubtless give him a special vantage point, but most of this story can be taken with several grains of salt." [4]

Writing in Conflict Quarterly for The Journal of Conflict Studies, David Charters questioned why the book did not present more of an analysis on the aggregate impact of all of the disinformation campaigns, before noting such a task would be difficult to assess. [1] The reviewer asked why the book did not fully address questions including, "Did any of the forgeries described have a significant political impact on the intended target, and on U.S. relations with the country concerned, or were they merely of nuisance value?" [1] Conflict Quarterly criticized such absence in the book and identified it as an academic deficiency, writing, "Without answers to questions such as these, it is difficult to accept, at face value, the authors' conclusions." [1] Charters concluded the book was "a useful introduction to a field of knowledge which ... is likely to continue to expand in importance for diplomats, the intelligence community, and scholars of international security affairs. [1]

Stephen Sloan reviewed the book for the journal Society , writing: "Richard H. Shultz and Roy Godson are to be credited for writing a highly readable and insightful book that can enable policy-makers, academics, and concerned members of the public to understand a form of political warfare that until recently was only rarely recognized in the West." [2] He called the work "ground breaking research". [2] Sloan concluded, "Shultz and Godson have provided an awareness of a threat that should be acted upon." [2]

Political Science Quarterly gave a more critical assessment of the book, with reviewer Ellen Mickiewicz commenting, "In the second chapter, the discussion of the organization of Soviet foreign propaganda activities is so fuzzy as to be confusing." [3] She criticized the rigor of the book's research methodology. [3] Mickiewicz concluded, "This book is not the successor to Frederic Barghoorn's Soviet Foreign Propaganda (1964); the topic is timely and interesting, but it requires a more considered and informed analysis." [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic deceptions and media manipulation tactics to advance political, military, or commercial goals. Disinformation is implemented through attacks that "weaponize multiple rhetorical strategies and forms of knowing—including not only falsehoods but also truths, half-truths, and value judgements—to exploit and amplify culture wars and other identity-driven controversies."

Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propaganda, which does not disguise its origins at all. It is typically used to vilify or embarrass the enemy through misrepresentation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Active measures</span> Political warfare conducted by the USSR & Russia

Active measures is a term used to describe political warfare conducted by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The term, which dates back to the 1920s, includes operations such as espionage, propaganda, sabotage and assassination, based on foreign policy objectives of the Soviet and Russian governments. Active measures have continued to be used by the administration of Vladimir Putin.

Blowback is the unintended consequences and unwanted side-effects of a covert operation. To the civilians suffering the blowback of covert operations, the effect typically manifests itself as "random" acts of political violence without a discernible, direct cause; because the public—in whose name the intelligence agency acted—are unaware of the effected secret attacks that provoked revenge (counter-attack) against them.

As early as the 1920s, the Soviet Union, through its GRU, OGPU, NKVD, and KGB intelligence agencies, used Russian and foreign-born nationals, as well as Communists of American origin, to perform espionage activities in the United States, forming various spy rings. Particularly during the 1940s, some of these espionage networks had contact with various U.S. government agencies. These Soviet espionage networks illegally transmitted confidential information to Moscow, such as information on the development of the atomic bomb. Soviet spies also participated in propaganda and disinformation operations, known as active measures, and attempted to sabotage diplomatic relationships between the U.S. and its allies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Neptune (espionage)</span> 1964 Eastern Bloc disinformation operation involving fake Nazi-era documents

Operation Neptune was a 1964 disinformation operation by the secret services of Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union (KGB) and involved fake Nazi-era documents that were found in submerged chests.

Russian influence operationsin Estonia consist of the alleged actions taken by the government of the Russian Federation to produce a favorable political and social climate in the Republic of Estonia. According to the Estonian Internal Security Service, Russian influence operations in Estonia form a complex system of financial, political, economic and espionage activities in Republic of Estonia for the purposes of influencing Estonia's political and economic decisions in ways considered favourable to the Russian Federation and conducted under the doctrine of near abroad. Conversely, the ethnic Russians in Estonia generally take a more sympathetic view of Moscow than that of the Estonian government. According to some, such as Professor Mark A. Cichock of the University of Texas at Arlington, the Russian government has actively pursued the imposition of a dependent relationship upon the Baltic states, with the desire to remain the region's dominant actor and political arbiter, continuing the Soviet pattern of hegemonic relations with these small neighbouring states. According to the Centre for Geopolitical Studies, the Russian information campaign which the centre characterises as a "real mud throwing" exercise, has provoked a split in Estonian society amongst Russian speakers, inciting some to riot over the relocation of the Bronze Soldier. The 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia is considered to be an information operation against Estonia, with the intent to influence the decisions and actions of the Estonian government. While Russia denies any direct involvement in the attacks, hostile rhetoric from the political elite via the media influenced people to attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Denver</span> KGB disinformation campaign claiming that HIV was a U.S. bioweapon

Operation Denver was an active measure disinformation campaign run by the KGB in the 1980s to plant the idea that the United States had invented HIV/AIDS as part of a biological weapons research project at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Historian Thomas Boghardt popularized the codename "INFEKTION" based on the claims of former East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi) officer Günter Bohnsack, who claimed that the Stasi codename for the campaign was either "INFEKTION" or perhaps also "VORWÄRTS II". However, historians Christopher Nehring and Douglas Selvage found in the former Stasi and Bulgarian State Security archives materials that prove the actual Stasi codename for the AIDS disinformation campaign was Operation Denver. The operation involved "an extraordinary amount of effort – funding radio programs, courting journalists, distributing would-be scientific studies", according to journalist Joshua Yaffa, and even became the subject of a report by Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News.

Denial and deception (D&D) is a Western theoretical framework for conceiving and analyzing military intelligence techniques pertaining to secrecy and deception. Originating in the 1980s, it is roughly based on the more pragmatic Soviet practices of maskirovka but it has a more theoretical approach compared to the latter.

The Interagency Active Measures Working Group was a group led by the United States Department of State and later by the United States Information Agency (USIA). The group was formed early during the Reagan administration, in 1981, purportedly as an effort to counter Soviet disinformation.

Herbert "Herb" Romerstein was an American ex-communist and historian who became a writer specializing in anticommunism and was appointed Director of the U.S. Information Agency’s Office to Counter Soviet Disinformation and Active Measures. As an author he is best known for his book The Venona Secrets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political warfare</span> Use of political means to compel an opponent with hostile intent

Political warfare is the use of hostile political means to compel an opponent to do one's will. The term political describes the calculated interaction between a government and a target audience, including another state's government, military, and/or general population. Governments use a variety of techniques to coerce certain actions, thereby gaining relative advantage over an opponent. The techniques include propaganda and psychological operations ("PsyOps"), which service national and military objectives respectively. Propaganda has many aspects and a hostile and coercive political purpose. Psychological operations are for strategic and tactical military objectives and may be intended for hostile military and civilian populations.

The Fletcher School's International Security Studies Program is a center for the study of international security studies and security policy development. It was established in 1971 at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. ISSP conducts its academic activity through courses, simulations, conferences, and research. It also has a military fellows program for midcareer U.S. officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard H. Shultz</span>

Richard H. Shultz, Jr. is an American scholar of international security studies. He is a Professor International Politics at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, where he is also the director of the International Security Studies Program (ISSP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Martin-Bittman</span> Czech-born author and defector (1931–2018)

Lawrence Martin-Bittman, formerly known as Ladislav Bittman, was an American artist, author, and retired professor of disinformation at Boston University. He was best known for his 1983 book, The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider's View.

<i>Disinformation</i> (book) 2015 nonfiction book by Ion Mihai Pacepa and Ronald J. Rychlak

Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism is a 2015 non-fiction book about disinformation tactics and history rooted in information warfare. It was written by former general in the Securitate, the secret police of Socialist Republic of Romania, Ion Mihai Pacepa, and law professor Ronald J. Rychlak. It was published in 2013 along with a companion film, Disinformation: The Secret Strategy to Destroy the West.

<i>The KGB and Soviet Disinformation</i> Book by Ladislav Bittman

The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider's View is a 1983 non-fiction book by Lawrence Martin-Bittman, a former intelligence officer specializing in disinformation for the Czech Intelligence Service and retired professor of disinformation at Boston University. The book is about the KGB's use of disinformation and information warfare during the Soviet Union period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Godson</span> Academic at Georgetown University

Roy Godson is an academic and scholar within the fields of international politics and national security, and a professor emeritus at Georgetown University.

<i>The Plot to Hack America</i> Non-fiction book by Malcolm Nance

The Plot to Hack America: How Putin's Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election is a non-fiction book by Malcolm Nance about the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It was published in paperback, audiobook, and e-book formats in 2016 by Skyhorse Publishing. A second edition was also published the same year, and a third edition in 2017. Nance researched Russian intelligence, working as a Russian interpreter and studying KGB history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soviet disinformation</span>

Use of disinformation as a Soviet tactical weapon started in 1923, when it became a tactic used in the Soviet political warfare called active measures.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Charters, David (1985), "Richard H. Shultz and Roy Godson, Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy", Conflict Quarterly, 5 (4): 79, OCLC   5127078304
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sloan, Stephen (January 1985), "Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy", Society , 22 (2): 84[ dead link ]
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mickiewicz, Ellen (1984), "Review – Reviewed Work(s): Dezinfomatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy. by Richard H. Shultz and Roy Godson", Political Science Quarterly , 99 (4): 770–771, doi:10.2307/2150750, JSTOR   2150750
  4. 1 2 3 4 Campbell, John C. (September 1, 1984), "Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy", Foreign Affairs , 63 (1), ISSN   0015-7120, OCLC   5546902158
  5. ↑ "Curriculum Vitae – Professor Richard H. Shultz, Jr" (PDF). The Fletcher School. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-04-24. Retrieved Aug 8, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Pfaltzgraff, Robert L.; Shultz, Richard H. (2013). "International Security Studies: Looking Back and Moving Ahead" (PDF). The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs . 37 (3): 95–109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-21. Retrieved Jan 20, 2014.
  7. ↑ Shultz, Richard H. (1990), The Soviet Union and Revolutionary Warfare , The Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, ISBN   978-0-8179-8712-1
  8. ↑ Lefever, Ernest W. (1979), The CIA and the American Ethic: An Unfinished Debate, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Georgetown University, p. iv, ISBN   978-0-89633-031-3
  9. ↑ Scott-Smith, Giles (2012), Western Anti-Communism and the Interdoc Network: Cold War Internationale, Palgrave Macmillan Transnational History Series, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 190, ISBN   978-0-230-22126-0
  10. ↑ Godson, Roy (March 30, 2017), "Disinformation: A Primer in Russian Active Measures and Influence Campaigns" (PDF), Written Testimony of Roy Godson to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Open Hearing, March 30, 2017, United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, archived (PDF) from the original on May 21, 2017, retrieved June 3, 2017
  11. ↑ Gürbuz, U (2013), Future Trends and New Approaches in Defeating the Terrorism Threat, Nato Science for Peace and Security Series E: Human and Societal Dynamics, IOS Press, p. 114, ISBN   978-1-61499-271-4
  12. ↑ Godson, Roy (1995), Dirty Tricks or Trump Cards , Brassey's Intelligence & National Security Library, Brassey's, ISBN   978-0-7658-0699-4
  13. ↑ Godson, Roy (1988), Comparing Foreign Intelligence , Macmillan, ISBN   978-0-08-034702-8
  14. ↑ Garth Jowett; Victoria O'Donnell (2005), "What Is Propaganda, and How Does It Differ From Persuasion?", Propaganda and Persuasion, Sage Publications, pp. 21–23, ISBN   978-1-4129-0898-6
  15. ↑ Shultz, Richard H.; Godson, Roy (1984), Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy , Pergamon-Brassey's, ISBN   978-0-08-031573-7
  16. ↑ OCLC   299387801
  17. ↑ Shultz, Richard H.; Godson, Roy (1986), Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy, Berkley, ISBN   978-0-425-08772-5
  18. ↑ OCLC   493594237
  19. ↑ Shultz, Richard H.; Godson, Roy (1986), Dezinformatsia: The Strategy of Soviet Disinformation, Berkley Books, ISBN   978-0-425-08772-5

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