Psychological Warfare

(1) True source ("Where does it really come from?") (a) Release channel ("How did it come out?") if different from true source without concealing true source (b) Person or institution in whose name material originates (c) Transmitting channel ("Who got it to us?"), person or institution effecting known transmission—omitting, of course, analyst's own procurement facilities

(3) First-use and second-use source (first use, "Who is said to have used this first?"; second use, "Who pretends to be quoting someone else?") (a) Connection between second-use source and first-use source, usually in the form of attributed or unacknowledged quotation; more rarely, plagiarism (b) Modification between use by first-use and second-use sources, when both are known (i) Deletions (ii) Changes in text (iii) Enclosure within editorial matter of transmitter (iv) Falsification which appears deliberate (v) Effects of translation from one language to another

c. Audience (1) Intended direct audience ("in English to North America"; "a paper for New York restaurant operators") (2) Intended indirect audience (program beamed "in English to North America" but actually reaching Hong Kong and Singapore by deliberate plan of the sender; "a paper for New York restaurant operators" being faked and sent to Southeast Europe in fact) (3) Unintended audience (a Guadalcanal native studying Esquire; your aunt reading the Infantry Journal; a Chinese reading American wartime speeches against the "yellow devils" of Japan) (4) Ostensibly unintended direct audience (such as an appeal to strikers in very abusive-sounding language, sent to businessmen to build up opinion against the strikers, or Hitler's black use of the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion)

d. Subject ("What does it say?") (1) Content listed under any convenient heading as though it were straight news or intelligence (2) Content epitomized as demonstrating new propaganda technique (such as, "Now they're trying to get us out of Tientsin by appeals to our isolationists!") (3) Content which may be useful in counterpropaganda (such as, "They said that the Greeks are our witless puppets, so let's pass that along to the Greeks") (4) Significance of content for intelligence analysis (examples: When the Japanese boasted about their large fish catch, it was an indication their fishing fleet was short of gasoline again, and that the fish catch was actually small; when the Nazis accused the Jews of sedition, it meant that rations were short and that the Nazi government was going to appease the populace by denying the Jews their scanty rations by way of contrast)

e. Mission (1) Nation, group, or person attacked (2) Relation to previous items with the same or related missions (3) Particular psychological approach used in this instance (such as wedge-driving between groups, or between people and leaders, or between armed services; or demoralization of audience in general; or decrease of listeners' faith in the news) (4) Known or probable connection with originator's propaganda plan or strategy

Figure 26: Religious Black. Perhaps because of their contact with Americans who happened to be missionaries, the Japanese overemphasized the effect of religion on Americans. They attempted crude appeals on religious themes. It is doubtful that leaflets such as this had any practical effect. (Philippines, 1944-45.)

Figure 27: Malingerer's Black. One of the favored targets of block propaganda is the malingerer. Suspicion of successful malingering inevitably hurts the morale of a unit. Even if the enemy's instructions are not followed, the troops may suspect genuine psychoneurotics of having faked their troubles. Almost all participants in World War II issued such instructions; the Allied samples are not available for publication. This is a Japanese leaflet from the Philippines, 1944-45.

Such an outline would be useful only if it were applied in common-sense terms, without turning each item into an elaborate project and thus losing the woods in the trees. In most cases, it would suffice to state the item briefly for reference and study in the order of the entries. When poorly trained help is available, it is of course necessary to print or mimeograph a form to be used.

It is as vain to prescribe a propaganda analysis procedure without knowing the user as to prescribe an office filing system while knowing neither the nature of the office nor the kind of files kept. In time of war, subordinate commanders in operational areas will need to keep files at a minimum, while rear echelon or national facilities may be able to keep files of enormous range and thoroughness. In the recording of a large number of propaganda items, however, the material becomes hopelessly unmanageable unless there is some standardized system for organizing it. Mere alphabetization leads inevitably to the question, alphabetization of what?, and the analysis function can be exercised more readily in terms of the sources of propaganda than in terms of its incidental topics.