Psyops, infiltration, Psywar, Covert Ops and mind control

There are two basic types of needs identified by social scientists—biological (or physiological) and social. Biological needs are those elements necessary to sustain life: food, water, air, shelter, and procreation. These needs are common to all cultures, though different cultures will seek to satisfy these needs in different manners. Social needs are those learned from society through the enculturation process (the process by which an individual learns the traditional content of a culture and assimilates its practices and values). Every culture will have different social needs and different priorities for satisfying those needs. (FM3-05-301 - Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures, 5-25).

Organizations with a wide range of political and criminal agendas have historically relied on coercive interrogation and brainwashing of various types to force submission and information from enemies and victims, and to indoctrinate and increase cooperation in members and captors. In modern times, these techniques are used by political/military/espionage organizations, race/ethnic hate-groups, criminal groups (e.g., child pornographers and sex rings, and international traffickers of women, children, guns, and drugs) and exploitative and destructive cults with spiritual or other agendas. Methods of “thought reform” used by such groups include intimidation, social isolation, religious indoctrination, threats against victims or their loved ones, torture, torture of co-captives, and brainwashing through social influence or deprivation of basic needs, such as sleep or food (Hassan, 2000). (Lacter, Forensic Aspects of Dissociative Identity Disorder, p. 186).

At the most basic level, terrified submission is used to control behavior. The invididual outwardly complies with the abuser(s), but individual's own beliefs and identity are consciusly preserved.

In other cases, an individual may be induced to comply willingly. For example, a troubled or abused person is provided with objects, drugs, affection, sex, "freedom", and so forth and consciously chooses compliance with the abuser over his/her current life situation.

In cases of religious indocrination, a psychologically weak or dependent persons submits to a charismatic leader who professes to be chosen for a spiritual agenda by a powerful deity, and who promises salvation to devotees and evernal damnation to non-followers.

Cases of "Stockholm Syndrome" involve deeper psychological controls. Terrorization (harm or threats of harm to the victim and/or victim's loved ones), plus isolation from prior support, ofter combined with lies of abandonment by loved ones, leads to dependence on the abuser(s) and perveived loyalty to the abuser(s).

The term "brainwashing" is typically used to describe the use of a combination of social influence, regimentation of routine, and deprivation of basic needs, to attain still-fulle control of the individual's mind. A person is placed only among successful "converts" to the abuser or group, who profess the belief system of the group, while the person is isolated from the loved ones and previous support systems and activities. Basic needs, including sleep, food, and water, are withdrawn, and activities are regimented to modify beliefs, inclusing chanting, praying, indocrination and social isolation.

At a more sophisticated leve, modification of self-view as evil or as an accomplice to a crime is used. Abusers may force an individual into double-binds to cause the individual to feel morally culpable. The individual is told to make a choice to commit a morally reprehensible act, such as hurting a person or animal, with an implied or direct threat that unbearable harm will come to self or others for failure to "choose" this act.

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A further method of mind control is "psychic driving", in which taped messages are played non-stop for hours while the person is in states of consciousness altered by electroshock, drugs, isolation, confinement, deprivation of sleep, food, water, sleep oxygen, and sensory inpyt, or other torture. This methodology was utilized by Dr. Ewen Cameron in the 1950s. In 1997, the CIA was sued by a number of Cameron's ex-patients. The Canadian court found in favour of the patients who endured Cameron's tortures in teh name of creating a more efficiant Manchurian Candidate for the CIA. Ross (2000) and Rutz (2001) also describe the US CIA projects - MK ULTRA and others - which used unwitting human subjects for mind-control experimenttion and exploitation. Lacter, Forensic Aspects of Dissociative Identity Disorder, p. 187).

Psychological Operations are planned to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence emotions, motives, objective reasoning and ultimately the behavior of organizations, groups and individuals (Rouse, 2012). Psychological operations have involved a variety of tactics and technologies to influence target audiences (FM 33-1-1, 2003)

A psychological warfare campaign is a war of the mind. PSYOP can be disseminated by face-to-face communication, audio visual means (television), audio media (radio or loudspeaker), visual media or the digital domain. The weapon is not the delivery system, but the message it carries and how that message affects a target audience (Rouse, 2012).

There are three types of psychological operations: tactical, strategic and consolidation activities. Tactical PSYOP is targeted towards specific enemy combat groups to induce them to perform a specific action that will affect the current or short-range combat situation. Aimed at a larger audience, strategic PSYOP involves a carefully planned campaign against a larger target audience. The mission of consolidation PSYOP is to assist the civil and military authorities in consolidating their gains, by establishing and maintaining law and order and by re-establishing civil government in an occupied or liberated area (USDA, 1994). All three types of psychological operations have been employed by both governments and terrorist groups.

Regardless of the type of psychological operations used by governments or terrorist groups, propaganda is a major component of any psychological operations campaign. It is employed to influence various target groups. Modern propaganda is classified as white, gray, or black according to the degree to which the sponsor conceals or acknowledges its involvement (Gray and Martin, 2007). White propaganda is correctly attributed to the sponsor and the source

is truthfully identified. Gray propaganda is unattributed to the sponsor and conceals the real source of the propaganda. The objective of gray propaganda is to promote viewpoints that are in the interest of the originator but that would be more acceptable to target audiences than official statements. Black propaganda, on the other hand, camouflages the sponsor's participation.

While gray propaganda is unattributed, black propaganda is falsely attributed.  Black propaganda is subversive and provocative; it is designed to appear to have originated from a hostile source in order to cause that source embarrassment, to damage its prestige, to undermine its credibility, or

to get it to take actions that it might not otherwise pursue (DA-Pam 550-104, 1966). (BATES and MOONEY, 2014, Psychological Operations and Terrorism: The Digital Domain, p.1).

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While terrorism is generally associated with young men (Awan, Hoskins, & O’Loughlin, 2011), the digital domain has also provided a venue for the recruitment of female participants who are generally less attracted by messages of violence. For example, in 44 Ways to Support Jihad, respected leader Anwar Al Awalki, who has been credited with the online radicalization of the Fort Hood shooter and the Christmas Bomber, implores non-violent supporters to disseminate jihadist literature and news through its “WWW Jihad” initiative (Al-Awalaki, 2010).

He further encourages “nasheers,” Islamic musicians and poets, to expand their audiences beyond Islam by performing in different languages and forums.

Most terrorists possess a controlled hate that is “disciplined, purposeful and intrinsically rewarding” and that is buoyed by their peers (Ryan, Vanderlick, & Matthews, 2006).

Individualized interactions involving self-radicalized terrorists stem from the omnipresent deconstructed framework of modern terrorist organizations. This type of “leaderless resistance” has spawned a new generation of lone wolf -terrorists who will die for their cause based upon ideological justifications (propaganda) and directions being dispensed from a distance (Bates, 2012). Lone wolves were also responsible for the first major acts of domestic terrorism: a midair plane bombing, product contamination and anthrax attacks (Thomson, 2013). (BATES and MOONEY, 2014, Psychological Operations and Terrorism: The Digital Domain, p.5).

Media analysis is the structured, deliberate tracking and analysis of opponent and neutral media (TV, radio, Internet, and print). Properly performed media analysis, although time-consuming and linguist-intensive, can identify trends and become predictive when the supported force considers a potentially unpopular activity. To be truly effective, media analysis must be conducted on a daily basis. PSYOP units usually do not have the organic personnel sufficient to accomplish this task. (FM3-05-301 - Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures, 11-17).

Processing opponent information and propaganda refers to the movement of the information through non-PSYOP and PSYOP channels. PSYOP personnel must ensure that their supported unit HQ and all of its subordinate units understand where suspected opponent propaganda and information is sent. All collection agencies must know that PSYOP units have the mission of analyzing opponent propaganda and information. (FM3-05-301 - Psychological Operations Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures, 11-19).

Trauma-based mind-control programming further exploits dissociated ego states to more efficiently control the individual on a deeply unconscious level. Systematic torture is used to block the victims capacity for conscious processing (through pain, terror, drugs, illuson, hypnosis, sensory, deprivation, sensory overstimulation, oxygen deprivation, cold, heat, spinning, brain stimualation, etc., and often, near-death), followed by the use of suggestion and/or classical and operant conditioning (consistent with well-established behaviour-modification principles) to implant thoughts, directives, and perceptions in the unconscious mind, ofter in newly formed trauma-induced dissociated identities, that force the victim to do, feel, think, or perceive things for the purposes of the programmer. The objective is for the victim to follow directives with no conscious awareness, including execution of acts in clear violation of the victim's moral principles, spiritual convictions, and volition.

Instalation of mind-control programming relies on the victim's capacity to form new dissociated ego-states (personalities) to hold and hide programming behind walled-off amnesic barriers. Already dissociative children are prime candidates for programming. Alternatively, very young children can be made to be dissociative though torture.

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Many ritual abuse survivors reports that other abuser groups with ciminal, political, military and espionage agendas infiltrate their familial cults to gain access to these readily programmable children to use them to serve their own agendas, often paying cult parents large sums of money to be able to program these children.

One more function of trauma-based mind-control programming is to cause the victim to physically and psychologically re-experience the torture used to install the programming should the victim consider violating its directives. The most common programs are unidimensional directives communicated during torture and impaired states of consciousness to "Remember to fortet" the abuse and "Don't tell" about the abuse.

Much trauma-based mind-control programming is significantly more complex, more technological in its methods of installation, and utilizes the individual's dissociated ego-states (persinalities) to effect greater layering of psychological effects. Persinalities are usually programmed to take executive control of the mind and body in response to particular cues (hand signals, tones, spojen names, etc.), and then follow directives, with complete amnesia for these events. (Lacter, Forensic Aspects of Dissociative Identity Disorder, p. 188)

Levels of Brainwashing and Mind Control from Least to Most Complex and Binding, and often used in combination, especially in ritual abuse:

1. Terrified Submission: Outward compliance, but one’s own beliefs and identity are preserved.

2. Willful Compliance: A disturbed or abused child/adolescent/adult is provided with objects, drugs, affection, sex, “freedom”, etc., and chooses the abuser over his/her current life situation.

3. Stockholm Syndrome: Terror (abuser harms victim or threatens victim and his/her family with violence), plus isolation from prior support, often combined with lies of family abandonment, lead to dependence on abuser(s), and perceived loyalty to the abuser.

4. Religious Indoctrination: A psychologically weak or dependent person submits to a charismatic leader who claims to be spiritually connected to some kind of God, professing to be chosen for a spiritual agenda, promises salvation to devotees and eternal damnation promised to non-followers.

5. Brainwashing through Social influence: An individual is placed only among successful “converts” to the abuser or cult, who profess the belief system of the group, while the person is isolated from family and previous support systems and activities.

6. Brainwashing through Deprivation of Basic Needs: Sleep, food, water, combined with chanting, social isolation, etc.

7. Self-View as an Accomplice or Evil: Abuser forces victim into double-binds that cause the victim to feel culpable.

8. Unidimensional directives: are communicated during severe abuse, convincing affected personalities that the abuse will re-occur if the programmed mandate is broken. The most common are, “Remember to forget” the abuse and “Don’t tell” about the abuse. A central function of most mind control is to cause the victim to physically and psychologically re-experience the torture used to install the programming should she or he act in violation of programmed commands. The re-experience of the original torture often includes somatic manifestation of the original injuries, such as bruising and swelling, though not to the degree of the original injury.

9. Spiritual “Programming”: Evil attachments, claims, curses, covenants, etc. Witchcraft ritual abuse seeks to “attach” evil entities (spirits of abusers and demons) to dissociated identities to harass and control victims for their entire lives. Claims, curses, covenants, hexes, vexes, etc. are used to forever malevolently define victims as evil, physically or mentally ill, socially devalued and isolated, sexually enslaved, a murderer, a cult member, a witch, etc.

10. Psychic driving: Taped messages are played for hours non-stop while the person is in states of consciousness altered by sleep, electro-shock, sensory deprivation, inadequate food, water, sleep, oxygen, isolated, confinement or other torture.

12. Trauma-based Coercive Mind Control– Trauma-based mind control programming can be defined as systematic torture that blocks the victim’s capacity for conscious processing (through pain, terror, drugs, illusion, sensory deprivation, sensory over-stimulation, oxygen deprivation, cold, heat, spinning, brain stimulation, and often, near-death), and then employs suggestion and/or classical and operant conditioning (consistent with well-established behavioral modification principles) to implant thoughts, directives, and perceptions in the unconscious mind, often in newly-formed trauma-induced dissociated identities, that force the victim to do, feel, think, or perceive things for the purposes of the programmer. The objective is for the victim to follow directives with no conscious awareness, including execution of acts in clear violation of the victim’s moral principles, spiritual convictions, and volition.

(http://endritualabuse.org/mind-control-simple-to-complex/)

One of the Aceh war's laeast examined aspects was Jakarta's strategic - and international - level infiltration and "black" (covert) operations against Acehenese resistance. Such infiltration activies related closely to the information of "Red and White" paramilitaries in both Aceh and East Timor cases. Unlike the East Timor case, Indonesian forces much less international oppisition over Aceh, because GAM enjoyed less foreign sympathy and support than FALINTIL. Nonetheless, such operations in both regions hand the same essential goals: division and destablization of both the resistance and its sources of civilian support. But in the rise of loyalist militias outside of East Timor from the late 1990s, not only in Aveh but Papua and elsewhere, obvious Indonesial jihadist elements were discernible within broader operations partly aimed at local and overseas perciptions.

Aceh's war saw Jakarta's use of culturally specific Islamist camouflage to aid deception processes. By the time of the post-2001 "Global War of Terror" (GWOT), this aspect assumed greater significance in Jakarta's Aceh infowar, hitherto directed more at local audiences. Close examination of Indonesian sources releaved that highly publicized regional "Jema'ah Islamiyah (JI)" terrorist group was connected to loyalist Indonesial elements, wheter as Acehenese or Aceh-related players. Compatible efforts in Aceh manifested more openly as syariah and its orthodox Islamist political and cultural trappings. (Indonesia's War Over Aceh: Last Stand on Mecca's Porch, p. 195).

"Terrorism" here is not a stric definition, but rather a conventionalized keyword as attributed to non-state agents since attacks on mainland USA in 2001, and subsequent lesser events such as that on Bali in 2002 Vengeful reprisal strikes against Aceh's civilians amounted to "terrorism" by any reasonable understanding, whether in TNI-POLRI antiguerrilla sweeps and hostage-taking, or GAM assassination and kidnapping or alleged collaborators. Similiarly, "PSYOPS" here denoes Jakarta's more sensitive, sophisticated, and aggressive manipulation of perceptions, but at strategic levels beyong such counterintelligence activily within Aceh. "Infiltration" covers the turning of GAM members usually upon compromise from interrogations, searches, capture and coercion on families, as seen in operational-level covert action. Strategiically, "infiltration" applies also to the creatin and sponsorship of so-called "splinter" groups to undermine GAM and its civilian support networks, especially overseas. Related terms covering all of the abose aspects are "black flag", "false flag", and "black PSYOPS", denoting covert "front" entities, their activity in infiltration and aggressive PSYOPS, deception plans, and other disinformation run to destablize an enemy outside of normal combat. (Indonesia's War Over Aceh: Last Stand on Mecca's Porch, p. 196).