| Summary: | Organizing and conducting effective psychological operations (PSYOP) in support of strategic, operational, and tactical objectives is a complex endeavor fraught with many challenges. The challenges include: a general negative attitude towards PSYOP / deception operations, the emphasis on kinetic platforms as the solution set for all crises to include unconventional warfare (UW), the sheer lack of numbers in both PSYOP personnel and equipment, and a recent upsurge of negativity from the world media of U.S. PSYOP due to the utilization of host nation media assets that portrays the U.S. as having a heavy hand in censuring the Iraqi and Afghan media. This thesis will examine the benefits of host nation media from World War II to the present that include the utilization of media personnel and infrastructure in mediums of radio, newspapers, leaflets, posters, magazines, comic books, radio stations, satellite and terrestrial television. The merits of host nation media will be examined by analyzing their effect upon Psychological Operations (PSYOP) from the perspective of opposing countries in previous wars as well as U.S. PSYOP programs in both past and present conflicts in addition to the impact of counter-PSYOP from an adversarial point of view. The final goal of the thesis is to illustrate the need for the use of host nation media assets relevant to U.S. military and civil operations.
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