Office of Strategic Influence

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The Office of Strategic Influence ( Office of Strategic Influence ; OSI) was an American military facility, whose job it was public opinion abroad against the United States and its foreign policy to influence through propaganda measures. The range of possible measures included not only ordinary public relations campaigns but also extremely controversial measures through to the use of “black propaganda ”, ie the targeted dissemination of false information abroad.

After massive public protests, the name of the facility was closed in February 2002, but its intended tasks are still being carried out, mainly through the Office of Global Communications, which was later established .

history

The OSI was founded in October 2001 on the initiative of Donald Rumsfeld with reference to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the USA in the United States Department of Defense . The US government wanted to increase its influence on the media by launching purchased items. The project was only discontinued after massive public protests. As early as the first Gulf War , the Pentagon hired a New York PR firm (Hill & Knowlton) to spread the story ( invented by Nijirah al-Sabah ) of Iraqi soldiers killing Kuwaiti incubator babies.

The progressive rock band OSI has named itself after the failed government agency .

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