"The Senate Armed Services Committee has asked Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to assess the effectiveness of a series of news and information Web sites that have been initiated by U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in recent years in a bid to counter extremist messaging. The so-called “influence Web sites” are maintained by various overseas commands and operated by defense contractors.
For fiscal 2012, SOCOM sought $22.6 million in the Overseas Contingency Operations account — primarily intended to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — for the initiative.
Congress, over the past few years, has been pressing the Pentagon to justify the hundreds of millions of dollars spent overseas under various headings such as “strategic communications” and “information operations.”
In the latest challenge, the Senate Armed Services Committee noted in a legislative report that information ops Web sites “have become a significant and costly component” of U.S. military commands’ campaigns to counter violent extremism, “despite there being limited information to demonstrate ... [they] are reaching or appropriately influencing their intended target audience in support of U.S. national security objectives.”" (thanks Laleh)
For fiscal 2012, SOCOM sought $22.6 million in the Overseas Contingency Operations account — primarily intended to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — for the initiative.
Congress, over the past few years, has been pressing the Pentagon to justify the hundreds of millions of dollars spent overseas under various headings such as “strategic communications” and “information operations.”
In the latest challenge, the Senate Armed Services Committee noted in a legislative report that information ops Web sites “have become a significant and costly component” of U.S. military commands’ campaigns to counter violent extremism, “despite there being limited information to demonstrate ... [they] are reaching or appropriately influencing their intended target audience in support of U.S. national security objectives.”" (thanks Laleh)
