Episode 29
Welcome back, Theoryologists. When you hear the term “psyop”, in context of the military, what comes to mind? Does it conjure up thoughts of leaflet air drops? Radio broadcasts behind enemy lines? Loudspeaker announcements? Are you even familiar with the term at all? While for some it may conjure the thought of clandestine psychic warfare and espionage tactics, Psyop is, in fact, an abbreviation of the term “psychological operation”.
These operations are defined by the Department of Defense as “planned psychological activities in peace and war which normally pursue objectives to gain the support and cooperation of friendly and neutral countries and to reduce the will and the capacity of hostile or potentially hostile countries to wage war.”
Psyops have been employed by the US military in some form since the American revolution, and examples of these strategic psychological activities can be found during every major US military conflict since. This includes the American Civil War, Vietnam, and more recently the military conflicts in the Middle East. In fact, psychological operations are utilized by all major militaries throughout the world. While tactics employed, as mentioned before, such as leaflets and propaganda driven radio broadcasts are more properly defined as aspects of psychological warfare, the US Military is quick to point out that psychological operations during peacetime take a very different tact. These psyops do not involve misinformation, but are designed, in fact, to deter conflict through well crafted, truth based persuasive communications and terminology.
We will begin our story, and learn about the military training exercise known as Jade Helm 15 through it’s impact on a small town in central Texas. This will be a two part episode, simply because there is just so much to explore. Today we will introduce ourselves to this training exercise through the lens the residents in the town of Bastrop. As you hear the story and follow the events as they play out, keep the concept of psyops in the back of your mind.
In May 2018, news outlets and newspaper articles circulated an update to the 2015 joint operation training exercise known as Jade Helm. Outlets reported on an MSNBC interview with, Michael Hayden, who had served as former head of both the CIA and NSA, during which Hayden made comments indicating that the frenzy of public concern and media coverage was fueled by a Russian disinformation campaign. This, of course, settled the issue and ended any further media interest for the 3 year old topic. Seemingly providing explanation for the escalated alarm, claims of conspiracy theory, and public backlash, Hayden rested the blame on Russian bots and the alt-right media, answering the question of how the whole conspiracy theory got started in the first place.
The problem is, it was never a question anyone was asking. Not during media coverage leading up to the exercise in 2015, and certainly not in 2018, long after most people forgot that anything had ever happened. So if no one was asking the question, then why provide an unprompted answer? Well, we could point some motivation to the fact that Michael Hayden was promoting his book during the interview, but it still seems a bit random. That is, unless this latest revelation of information is just another phase of the Jade Helm exercise itself. To make a determination like that, though, we should first understand what exactly happened in the months leading up to the Jade Helm training exercise during the Spring of 2015
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