I'm writing on propaganda preparation of the Iraq war by the INC/NeoCon complex.
I need to know exactly which law forbids US' foreign intelligence services to conduct domestic propaganda (now and in the 90s). Can you help me?
This is the context for my question:
"From an office near Victoria Station, the Rendon Group set out to influence global political opinion against Saddam. Given Saddam’s record of atrocities against his own people, it wasn’t a hard sell. “It was a campaign environment, with a lot of young people, and no set hierarchy,‿ Brooke recalled. “It was great. We had a real competitive advantage. We knew something about the twenty-four-hour media cycle, and how to manage a media campaign. CNN was new at that point. No one else knew how to do these things, but Rendon was great at issue campaigns.‿ The group began offering information to British journalists, and many articles subsequently appeared in the London press. Occasionally, he said, the company would be reprimanded by project managers in Washington when too many of those stories were picked up by the American press, thereby transgressing laws that prohibited domestic propaganda. But, for the most part, Brooke said, “It was amazing how well it worked. It was like magic.‿" (http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040607fa_fact1)
Since 9/11 the INC doesn't neccessarily take the long way around foreign countries. (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0316-02.htm) Why not? (The New Yorker author writes "transgressing laws that prohibit_ed_ domestic propaganda".) Are services now allowed to conduct domestic propaganda as an effect of 9/11?
Thank you very much and best regards
UPDATE
The United States Information Agency was disbanded in 1999. All of its functions were transferred to the Secretary of State. The Department of State has since established a Bureau of Public Diplomacy the mission of which is to disseminate propaganda in foreign countries, particularly Muslim nations.
This is the exact language in the law which governs dissemination of information within the United States:
"The Secretary is authorized, when he finds it appropriate, to provide for the preparation, and dissemination abroad, of information about the United States, its people, and its policies, through press, publications, radio, motion pictures, and other information media, and through information centers and instructors abroad. Subject to subsection (b) of this section, any such information (other than ''Problems of Communism'' and the ''English Teaching Forum'' which may be sold by the Government Printing Office) shall not be disseminated within the United States, its territories, or possessions, but, on request, shall be available in the English language at the Department of State, at all reasonable times following its release as information abroad, for examination only by representatives of United States press associations, newspapers, magazines, radio systems, and stations, and by research students and scholars, and, on request, shall be made available for examination only to Members of Congress. (b) Dissemination of information within United States
(1) The Director of the United States Information Agency shall make available to the Archivist of the United States, for domestic distribution, motion pictures, films, videotapes, and other material prepared for dissemination abroad 12 years after the initial dissemination of the material abroad or, in the case of such material not disseminated abroad, 12 years after the preparation of the material."
The reference in the United States Code is:
Title 22 Foreign Relations and Intercourse
Chapter 18 United States Information and Educational Exchange Programs
Subchapter 5 Dissemination Abroad of Information About The United States
Section 1461 General Authorization
End Update
Section 1461 of the Smith-Mundt Act specifically prohibits the United States Information Agency from disseminating any materials it has produced within the United States and its territories for a 12-year period. This act was passed as an amendment to the Freedom of Information Act, after Congress expressed concerns over "publicity." The USIA produces materials on the United States government, it's plans and activities, and the Congress does not want these potentially sensitive materials to be available to the American public until some time has passed. This ban on domestic distribution has since been reinforced several times by Congress. It was challenged by a group of journalists and researchers who were demanding access to a series of documents produced by the USIA. The District Court (in 1996) and the Appellate Court (in 1998) both ruled in favor of the USIA, further upholding the stipulations of Smith-Mundt. The case was Essential Information, Inc vs. United States Information Agency.
I mean: Which laws govern US agencies' domestic propaganda activities?
By now I've read about the Foreign Agents Registration Act (1938) that insures that the American public and its law makers know the source of information (propaganda) intended to sway public opinion. I've also read about the Smith-Mundt Act (1948) and its 1972 amendment, which places certain restrictions on only the USIA from engaging in domestic propaganda. So far I've not been able to find any law that prohibits for example the CIA to engage in domestic propaganda activities. (The National Security Act of 1947 simply bans the CIA from operating within the US, so that would include spreading propaganda.)
Any information on laws that ban CIA domestic propaganda is welcome.
Do you know what has become of Bill Clinton's "International Public Information" directive NSC-68? (compare http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37a0590c20fd.htm)
Thanks and best regards
The Office of International Information Programs (IIP) was established to take over some of the duties of the defunct United States Information Agency. Among those duties, as set out by Presidential Directive Decision 68 which established the position of International Public Information Secretariat, is to provide for public diplomacy initiatives in emergency situations around the world. The State Department gives the example of the war in Kosovo, when the IIP provided Internet access to refugees so they could communicate and find lost relatives. There is no indication that these changes made by the Clinton administration have been reversed. The IIP continues to perform these functions.
Note: the only information available on Directive 68 is from the State Department's public website. It may or may not reflect the complete scope and impact of the directive. It is entirely possible that this directive is filed away as classified with all of the other papers from the Clinton administration.
Posted 8/27/04 by legadillo UPDATE:
These articles from The Washington Times describe the subsuming of the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) under the State Department and the creation of a replacement organization, the International Public Information (IPI), under President Clinton's Presidential Decision Directive 68 (PDD68). Ben Barber, reporter for the Times, claims that some worry that although the IPI's mission is to disseminate information to foreign countries, the reorganization of the agencies creates the opportunity to use the IPI for domestic propaganda.
(Keep in mind that "The Washington Times…... was founded in 1982 as a conservative alternative to the Washington Post by members of the controversial Unification Church." 2004 "The Washington Times," Wikipedia, retrieved 8/27/04 from Wikipedia.)
Barber, Ben, 29 July 1999. Information-control plan aimed at U.S., insider says International agency to be used for `spinning the news'. 11 August 1999. USIA's end costs jobs of 2 officials Opposing change toppled top aides. 17 August 1999. IPI chief's wings 'clipped' by State, senior official says. The Washington Times. Retrieved 8/27/04, from Factiva.
Pachios, Harold, 7 October 1999. Plain English for public diplomacy. The Washington Times. Retrieved 8/27/04, from Factiva.
A Google search for "presidential decision directive 68" finds 237 hits; sampling them at random, the sites lean far right, and with varying degrees of paranoia, see in PDD68 an insidious disinformation plot out of the Clinton White House. A quick search for information regarding the Bush administration's specifically using the IPI to disseminate propaganda comes up empty.
Here's an interesting decision in 1998 on disclosing foreign and domestic information coming out of USIA:
USIA bar on U.S. broadcasts exempts transcripts from disclosure
02/23/98
WASHINGTON, D.C.--A law that prohibits the United States Information Agency from propagandizing U.S. citizens exempts the agency from the disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act when requesters seek records of the agency's communications outside the country, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington (D.C. Cir.) ruled in mid-February. (http://www.rcfp.org/news/1998/0223c.html)