IWP 631

This is the official page of IWP 631, Foreign Propaganda, Perceptions and Policy a graduate course taught by Dr J Michael Waller at the Institute of World Politics. The course is offered in the fall semester.

This is a defensive course about foreign propaganda aimed at influencing the perceptions and policy of the United States. My offensive counterpart, Public Diplomacy and Political Warfare, is offered in the spring. The official reading list is here.

Course description (current as of August 28, 2012)

As the most influential and powerful city in the world, Washington, D.C. is under constant propaganda attack by foreign entities seeking to influence and manipulate American perceptions and policies.

You as an analyst, policymaker, or policy implementer are a regular target of foreign propaganda. You need to know how to recognize it and handle it.

This situation is a natural political reality. Those who shape public opinion or design or implement U.S. national security strategy, economic policy and foreign policy – including government officials and staff, the military and intelligence services, think tanks, news and entertainment media, and students and professors – are among the principal targets of foreign propagandists.

We can gain an understanding of modern-day propaganda, disinformation and influence operations by studying not only the memoirs of practitioners and secondary source analysis, but also by the examination of original materials.

This course combines history, communications, political science, psychology, diplomacy, warfare, intelligence, and other disciplines to show the development and deployment of propaganda, especially the modern propaganda of a mass society developed over the 20^th Century, and its refinements into the present. It combines a historical survey with a study of foreign propaganda technique.

This is a defensive course in propaganda: to help the student develop awareness and the means to neutralize the effects of foreign influence operations aimed at the United States.

The flip side of this course, Public Diplomacy and Political Warfare (IWP IR 656), offered in the spring, is designed to help the student develop awareness and means of conducting offensive propaganda abroad.

A companion course is Political Warfare: Past, Present and Future (IWP IR 641) offered in the fall.

Class 1: Introduction to propaganda as an instrument of statecraft

Propaganda has been an instrument of statecraft since antiquity, from the ancient empires of Rome and Athens, to Medieval and Renaissance Europe and the European age of exploration and colonization, to the American Revolution.

George Washington, in his Farewell Address, warned how foreign powers would attempt to exploit the new republic’s democratic system and the human fragilities of its elected leaders – a warning about about foreign propaganda as a weapon against American democracy.

Technology has driven propaganda’s evolution, but the target remains the same: the human mind. This class surveys the history, theory and techniques of propaganda, and discusses definitions of three types of propaganda, as well as disinformation, covert action, active measures, front organizations, agents of influence, psychological operations and related fields.

Required Readings

• [Textbook] Paul A. Smith, Jr., On Political War (Washington: National Defense University Press, 1989), Chapter 1, “The Nature of Political War,” pp. 3-28; and Chapter 2, “Antiquity,” pp. 29-51. (Can’t find a copy of this book? See the “Required Readings” page for a PDF copy.)
• [Textbook] Sun Tzu, The Art of War, trans. Samuel B. Griffith (London: Oxford University Press, 1971). Read entire book, and pay particular attention to Chapter I, “Estimates;” Chapter 2, “Waging War;” Chapter III, “Offensive Strategy;” and Chapter XIII, “Employment of Secret Agents.”
• [Textbook] Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes (New York: Knopf, 1966; Random House, 1973), Introduction by Konrad Keller; Preface; Chapter 1, “The Characteristics of Propaganda”; Chapter 2, “The Conditions for the Effectiveness of Propaganda”; and Chapter 3, “The Necessity for Propaganda.”
• George Washington, “Farewell Address,” 1796. See the following:

 George Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796 (Yale Law School transcript)

George Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796 (University of Virginia digitized image of original with transcript)

Several versions of Washington’s Farewell Address exist. People have edited it over time to suit their own purposes. The Yale University version appears reliable. However, as a text it is not a primary source. The above University of Virginia version is the primary digital source: a faithful reproduction of the document in Washington’s own handwriting, word-searchable, with a text transcript attached.  This is a good point to remember about propaganda, and how easy it is to alter primary source material. Example: The version on the US State Department website was edited to remove Washington’s warning about those who express “pretended patriotism” – a mystery as to why, but the State Department took down the link after this issue was pointed out. (Don’t bother to click on the link; it’s been dead for years.) The current State Department reference to Washington’s Farewell Address gives a summary of its contents, but no longer provides the transcript.

For Further Reading

• Serge Chakotin, Rape of the Masses: The Psychology of Totalitarian Political Propaganda (New York: Fortean Society, 1940), Chapter 5, “Political Propaganda of the Past,” pp. 137-167.
• Angelo M. Codevilla, “Political Warfare,” in Frank Barnett and Carnes Lord, eds., Political Warfare and Psychological Operations: Rethinking The US Approach (Washington: National Defense University Press, 1989), pp. 77-109, with comments by Donald F. B. Jameson and Abram N. Shulsky.
• Nicholas J. Cull, David Cuthbert and David Welch, Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present (ABC-CLIO, 2003).
• Paul M. A. Linebarger, Psychological Warfare (Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1948/Coachwhip reprint, 2010), Chapter 7, “Propaganda Analysis,” pp. 110-131.
• Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1896; various reprints), esp. Book II, Chapter III. Discusses the phenomenon of crowds, their psychology, morality, ideas, reasoning power, and convictions. Book II, Chapter III explores the leaders of crowds and their means of persuasion.
• Philip M. Taylor, Munitions of the Mind: A History of Propaganda (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1995, 2003). A very good historical survey of propaganda, from Ancient Greece to the present. It gives good treatment to the use of propaganda in medieval and renaissance times, traces technological developments such as gunpowder, printing, and the telecommunications and information revolutions; discusses propaganda in revolutionary warfare and total warfare. A textbook in the Political Warfare: Past, Present and Future course.

Class 2: Getting us in or keeping us out – War propaganda of World War I

The Industrial Revolution provided cheaper and more effective tools for the propagandist, a development that paralleled the rise of mass ideological movements.

Modern propaganda as we know it started at the time of World War I, when opposing sides in Europe each tried to influence U.S. perceptions and policies to their military advantage. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in late 1917 heralded yet another type of state propaganda machine.

The World War I period became the forge in which modern propaganda in a mass society developed over the 20th Century.  This methodology has become a template for modern propaganda, though its roots date to antiquity.

This class examines mass propaganda vs. elite propaganda in the context of German, British, and, ultimately, U.S. government war propaganda. Topics include discussion of how British propaganda helped prompt the U.S. to enter World War I and was employed in an attempt to influence the 1916 presidential election.

The U.S. government, in turn, waged a domestic propaganda campaign to mobilize the American people to sacrifice everything for the war effort. The “Beat Back the Hun” poster illustrates President Woodrow Wilson’s domestic propaganda campaign.

Required Readings

Textbooks

• Smith, On Political War, Chapter 5, “World War I,” pp. 101-118.
• Harold D. Lasswell, Propaganda Technique in World War I (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1971), entire book.

Online (Readings from Peterson, Posonby and optional Vierek readings are attached as PDFs below. They are rather large files for comparatively short documents, so they may load slowly.)

• H. C. Peterson, Propaganda for War: The Campaign Against American Neutrality, 1914-1917 (University of Oklahoma Press, 1939; reprinted 1968), Preface, Chapter I, “Introduction,” pp. 3-11; Chapter II, “British Propaganda Organizations,” pp. 12-32; Chapter III, “British Propaganda,” pp. 33-70; Chapter VI, “German Propaganda and Sabotage,” pp. 134-158; Chapter XIII, “The Election of 1916,” pp. 273-282.  Download 3 Peterson 11.19MB
• Arthur Ponsonby, Falsehood in War-Time (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1928, reprinted by the Institute for Historical Review, 1980, 1991), Chapter XXIII, “Atrocity Stories,” pp. 128-134; Chapter VI, “The Mutilated Nurse,” pp. 67-70; Chapter VIII, “The Belgian Baby Without Hands,” pp. 78-82; Chapter XIII, “The Crucified Canadian,” pp. 91-93; Chapter XVII, “The Corpse Factory,” pp. 101-113; Chapter XXI, “The Lusitania,” pp. 121-125; Chapter XXIV, “Faked Photographs,” pp. 135-139; Chapter XXV, “The Doctoring of Official Papers,” pp. 140-145; Chapter XXVI, “Hypocritical Indignation,” pp. 146-151; and Chapter XXX, “Foreign Lies,” pp. 180-186.  Download 3 Posonby 12.20MB
• “A German Naval Victory,” Lusitania propaganda leaflet, 1915. (This leaflet accompanied the British copy of the German Lusitania medallion and was shown in the course presentation. Instead of reading the leaflet, which we saw on a slide in class, read the multi-page description by the Imperial War Museum of London, which states that the British version of the medal was made on the instructions of the UK chief of naval intelligence for propaganda purposes. I had neglected to say this in class; 300,000 copies were made and sold through a charitable organization to benefit wounded military men.)
  
  Recommended Readings

• United States Senate. Brewing and Liquor Interests and German and Bolshevik Propaganda: Report and Hearings of the Subcommittee on the Judiciary. 65th Congress, 1st Session, Document No. 62, Vol. 1, 1919. (In IWP library)
• George Sylvester Viereck, Spreading Germs of Hate (New York: Liveright, 1930), Part I, “An Overdose of Poison,” pp. 3-39; Part II, “Secrets of German Propaganda,” pp. 43-118; and Part V, “Irish Wit and Gaelic Candor,” pp. 215-230.  Download 3 Viereck 16.59MB

Class 3: The Comintern – The first global, state-sponsored network

The Industrial Revolution provided cheaper and more effective tools for the modern propagandist, a development that paralleled the rise of mass ideological movements. Modern propaganda as we know it started at the time of World War I, when opposing sides in Europe each tried to influence U.S. perceptions and policies to their military advantage.

The Communist International or Comintern was established in 1919 to promote world revolution but rapidly became an instrument of Soviet state policy. The appraratus organized by Willi Münzenberg to raise funds for the starving people of Russia (or more accurately, to raise funds for resources to be distributed under Bolshevik control) evolved into a network of international front organizations to promote Soviet policy through gray propaganda, and to organize political movements in support of Soviet Russia.

The class analyzes the successes and failures as well as the post-World War II implications, and how the theory and model of the Comintern came to be employed during the Cold War as a state-of-the-art global propaganda and political mobilization network.

Required Readings

• Ellul, Chapter IV, “The Psychological Effects of Propaganda”; and Chapter V, “The Socio-Political Effects.”
• Franz Borkenau, World Communism: A History of the Communist International (New York: Norton, 1939; reprinted by University of Michigan Press, 1962), Chapter 1, “Introduction,” pp. 15-21; Chapter VIII, “The Foundation of the Communist International,” pp. 161-170; Chapter XVII, “The Comintern and the Colonial Peoples,” pp. 284-295; and Chapter XXI, “The Structure of the Communist Parties,” pp. 357-375. [Note: Borkenau was an early Communist and Comintern agent. He broke with Stalin, was active in the anti-Nazi resistance, and after World War II became an important founder of the academic field of sovietology. See a quick wiki biography of Borkenau for more on his background.]
• Louis Budenz, The Techniques of Communism (Regnery, 1954). Read the following chapters as they relate to Comintern- and post-Comintern operations in the United States: Chapter VII, “The Role of the Communist Press,” Download Budenz, Role of Communist Press; Chapter VIII, “Affecting Public Opinion,” Download Budenz, Affecting Public Opinion; Chapter IX, “Use and Abuse of Minority Groups” Download Budenz, Use and Abuse of Minority Groups
• “Guidelines on the Organizational Structure of Communist Parties, on the Methods and Content of their Work,” Third Congress of the Comintern, 1921. Scan the whole document and pay attention to Part IV, “On Propaganda and Agitation.” Accessible at Marxists.org.

Recommended Readings

• John Barron, Operation Solo: The FBI’s Man in the Kremlin (Washington: Regnery, 1997). [About the Jack Morris Childs case.]
• Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes, The American Communist Movement: Storming Heaven Itself (New York: Twayne, 1992).
• ____ and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov, The Secret World of American Communism (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995).
• Steven Koch, Double Lives: Stalin, Willi Munzenberg and the Seduction of the Intellectuals (Enigma, 1994, 2004).
• Sean McMeekin, The Red Millionaire: A Political Biography of Willy Münzenberg, Moscow’s Secret Propaganda Tsar in the West, 1917-1940 (Yale University Press, 2003).
• A. I. Sobolev, et al., Outline History of the Communist International (Moscow, USSR: Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Central Committee of the CPSU/Progress Publishers, 1971), “Introduction,” pp. 7-18, esp. pp. 13-18.
• Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, & Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov, The Secret World of American Communism (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995), Chapter 1, “Background,” pp. 3-19; Chapter 2, “Clandestine Habits: The 1920s and the Early 1930s,” pp. 20-71.
• Communist Party USA, Central Committee, memorandum “To All Districts and Sections,” outline for discussion on “Recognition and the Task of the Communists,” 12 December 1933.
• Meredith L. Roman, Opposing Jim Crow: African Americans and the Soviet Indictment of US Racism, 1928-1937 (University of Nebraska Press, 2012).

Class 4: World War II – Nazi and British propaganda operations, and American public opinion

The World War II period was a watershed in propaganda methodology, as all sides built on the successes and learned from the failures of World War I.

This class covers white and black propaganda operations of the Third Reich, mobilization of the German-speaking populations for political and military purposes, Nazi foreign propaganda, early Nazi propaganda and political action networks in the United States; study of Soviet foreign influence operations before and during the war, and especially the period before the Hitler-Stalin Pact, during the Nazi-Soviet alliance, and following the Nazi invasion of the USSR. It will also examine British efforts to involve America in World War II.

The class will analyze the circumstances of successful and unsuccessful propaganda operations, and will study how Soviet and British propaganda themes penetrated U.S. official propaganda. The class will sample Nazi propaganda swing music from Josef Goebbels’ Charlie and his Orchestra jazz band, and Frank Capra’s American “Why We Fight” series.

Required Readings

Textbooks

• Smith, On Political War, Chapter 7, “The Nazis,” pp. 141-158; and Chapter 8, “Britain and America in World War II,” pp. 159-184.
• Nigel West, ed., British Security Coordination: The Secret History of British Intelligence in the Americas, 1940-1945 (1998), Part I, Chapter 3, “Contacts for Political Warfare,” pp. 17-23 Download West PW Contacts 17-23; Part II, Chapter 1, “Political Warfare Against the European Enemy,” pp. 53-65 Download West 53-65; Chapter 2, “Campaign Against Axis Propaganda in the United States,” pp. 66-87 Download West Axis 66-87; Chapter 3, “Political Warfare Against Japan,” pp. 88-101 Download West Japan 88-101; Chapter 4, “Disguised Channels of Propaganda and Rumour Spreading,” pp. 102-114 Download West Propaganda 102-114; Chapter 5, “After Pearl Harbor,” pp. 115-122 Download West After Pearl 115-122; and “Postscript: Intelligence and Propaganda,” pp. 123-132 Download West Intel&Prop 123-132. Also read Part III, “Economic Warfare,” pp. 135-184 Download West German business 135-160 / Download West Smuggling 161-184; and Part VIII, “Organization for Secret Activities Outside the Western Hemisphere,” pp. 403-444.

Online (required)

• Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1925), Chapter VI, “War Propaganda,” and Chapter XI, “Propaganda and Organization.” Hitler’s rambling makes this a dull read, but it its scholarly value is the source.
• Viktor Reimann, Goebbels: The Man Who Created Hitler, trans. Stephen Wendt (Garden City: Doubleday, 1976), Chapter 3, “Propaganda Devours Culture,” pp. 160-209. Download Goebbels by Reimann
• Leonard W. Doob, “Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 14, 1950, reprinted in Robert Jackall, ed., Propaganda (New York: New York University Press, 1995), pp. 190-216. Download Doob – Goebbels Principles of Propaganda

Recommended Readings

• John W. Dower, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War (New York: Pantheon, 1996). A study of U.S. and Imperial Japanese war propaganda and how each side dehumanized the enemy.
• William Ebenstein, Fascist Italy (American Book Company, 1939). Chapter IV discusses domestic propaganda structures and processes of the Italian Fascist party.
• Robert Jackall, ed., Propaganda (New York: New York University Press, 1995).
• Hideya Kumata and Wilbur Schramm, Four Working Papers on Propaganda Theory (Washington: U.S. Information Agency, 1955), on the Japanese “spiritual mobilization” theory of propaganda; the propaganda theory of the German Nazis; notes on the British concept of propaganda; and the Soviet concept of psychological warfare.
• Clayton D. Laurie, The Propaganda Warriors: America’s Crusade Against Nazi Germany (University of Kansas, 1996), the first and concluding chapters.
• George L. Mosse, Nazi Culture: Intellectual, Cultural, and Social Life in the Third Reich, trans. Salvator Attanasio et al., (Grosset & Dunlap, 1966).
• Anthony Rhodes, Propaganda The Art of Persuasion: World War II (Secaucus: Wellfleet Press, 1987).
• Sidney Rogerson, Propaganda in the Next War (London: Bles, 1938), Chapters 1 and 4.
• Richard Taylor, Film Propaganda: Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany (Croom Helm, Ltd., 1979). Focusing on Soviet and Nazi cinema, the book addresses film’s ability to speak to an audience and a mass.
• Allan M. Winkler, The Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942-1945 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978). Discusses U.S. propaganda at home and abroad during World War II.
• Z. A. B. Zeman, Nazi Propaganda (New York: Oxford, 1964), Chapters II, III and VIII.
• Video: Leni Riefenstahl, director, Triumph of the Will (1934), subtitled in English.
• Video: Frank Capra, director, Why We Fight, series of six wartime documentaries (1942-1945).

Commentary: Some Hollywood comedians began tearing down the all-powerful image of the Nazis and the other Axis powers, well before the US was involved in World War II. Charlie Chaplin and the Three Stooges were the first in the US to poke holes in Hitler’s carefully crafted image, as the following videos show.

Video: “I’ll Never Heil Again” (1941). A short version of one of the Three Stooges’ anti-Nazi satires. Moe stars as Hitler, with Larry as Goebbels and Curly as Goering (the leaders of the former kingdom of Moronica). Note among the Axis leaders is a character representing Stalin; this film was made before Operation Barbarossa in which Hitler turned against his Soviet ally. This version is edited down from the original 18 minute feature.

Video: “You Nazty Spy” (1940). The Three Stooges lampoon the Nazis in what is believed to be Hollywood’s first released production ridiculing Hitler. This version is also edited down from the original 18-minute feature.

Charlie Chaplin cut down Hitler in a much different and more eloquent style than the Three Stooges did, as shown in this scene from The Great Dictator (1940). Chaplain wrote, directed and starred in this film. His Hitler character is named Adenoid Hynkel, a Jewish barber who became Dictator of Tomania.

Class 5: Soviet strategic propaganda: The nuts and bolts of how it worked

Soviet anti-Western propaganda continued during World War II, and increased in volume, intensity and tone as the USSR consolidated control over Central and Eastern Europe and backed the Chinese and North Korean attack on South Korea.

The West’s response marked the beginning of a decades-long strategic propaganda war (Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech, the Truman Doctrine, CIA countermeasures, public diplomacy). Soviet propaganda strategy, tactics and techniques against the U.S. and American interests stressed infiltration and exploitation of the civic institutions in the target country.

The class will discuss Soviet strategic propaganda and the United States’ attempt to replicate the methodology abroad for American national purposes.

Required readings

• Smith, On Political War, Chapter 9, “The Cold War,” pp. 185-211.
• “Soviet Political Influence Activities” chart, Central Intelligence Agency. Download Soviet Political Influence Activities
• “Soviet Organizational Structure for Active Measures,” Federal Bureau of Investigation chart, circa 1980. Download soviet_organizational_structure.pdf
• “Soviet Apparatus in the United States for Active Measures,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, circa 1980. Download soviet_apparat_in_us_for_active_measures.pdf
• “Appendix A: Diagram of the Soviet Propaganda Network.” [TBA]
• Herbert Romerstein and Stanislav Levchenko, The KGB Against the ‘Main Enemy’ (Lexington Books, 1989), Chapter 12, “The Cold War Period,” pp. 235-260. Download Romerstein – The KGB Against the Main Enemy
• Robert W. Kitrinos, “International Department of the CPSU [Communist Party of the Soviet Union],” Problems of Communism, September-October 1984, pp. 47-75. Download Kitrinos – International Department of the CPSU Problems of Communism was a very highly regarded scholarly journal on Soviet and Communist affairs published by the US Information Agency during the Cold War.
• KGB Chairman Viktor Chebrikov, memorandum to Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Yuri V. Andropov concerning a US senator’s offer to assist with Soviet military propaganda campaigns in the United States, May 14, 1983.
• Baruch Hazan, Soviet Impregnational Propaganda (Ardis, 1982), Chapter 2, “Cultural Relations: Characteristics and Goals,” pp. 19-38. Download hazan_soviet_impregnational_propaganda.pdf
• Max M. Kampelman, “Communists in the CIO [Congress of Industrial Organizations union],” in Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, ed., The Strategy of Deception: A Study in World-Wide Communist Tactics (Farrar, Straus and Company, 1963), pp. 343-375. Download kampelman_communists_in_the_cio.PDF
• Scan this one to get the gist of the story: The Soviet Propaganda Campaign Against the Strategic Defense Initiative, US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1986.   Download Soviet_propaganda_against_sdi
• Some old Soviet front organizations survive, their networks still operational, but under different sponsorship. See the website of the reconstituted World Peace Council, which appears to be under Cuban and Venezuelan sponsorship.

Recommended Readings

• Martin Ebon, The Soviet Propaganda Machine (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987).
• Donald L. Harter and John Sullivan, Propaganda Handbook (20th Century Publishing Co., 1953). Considers 77 basic propaganda techniques, outline of analysis method. Discusses media, manipulation, environment, examples (fascist, communist, American), slogans.
• Baruch Hazan, Soviet Impregnational Propaganda (Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1982).
• Walter Joyce, The Propaganda Gap (New York: Harper & Row, 1963). Discusses early Cold War propaganda battle, and compares the resources devoted by the Soviet and U.S. sides; considers propaganda in terms of morality and an open society.
• Herbert Romerstein and Stanislav Levchenko, The KGB Against the Main Enemy (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Publishers, 1989).
• Clive Rose, The Soviet Propaganda Network: A Directory of Organizations Serving Soviet Foreign Policy (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989).
• US Department of State. Active Measures: A Report on the Substance and and Process of Anti-U.S. Disinformation and Propaganda Campaigns. Department of State Publication 9630, August 1986. Download State Department – A Report on the Substance and Process of Anti-US Disinformation and Propaganda Campaigns
• US Department of State. Soviet Influence Activities: A Report on Soviet Active Measures and Propaganda, 1986-87. State Department Publication 9627, October 1987. Download State Department – A Report on Active Measures and Propaganda
• J. A. Emerson Vermaat, “Soviet Manipulation of ‘Religious Circles,’ 1975-1986,” Ladislav Bittman, ed., The New Image-Makers: Soviet Propaganda and Disinformation Today (Pergamon-Brassey’s, 1988), Chapter 9, pp. 201-219.

Class 6: Agents of influence and psychological warfare

Part 1: Agents of influence are among the most successful means of disseminating propaganda and disinformation to both decision-making elites and to the mass public and are utilized by many governments and non-state actors.

Many nations and non-state actors use them, but the Soviets employed them to a highly sophisticated and successful degree against the West during the Cold War.

This class will focus on such agents of influence as Wilfred Burchett and Armand Hammer.  (Can you guess who is in this family picture?)

Part 2: The second part of the class will be devoted to the topic of psychological warfare, or warfare waged to achieve psychological effect to influence perceptions and behavior. Be prepared to discuss the Linebarger text during this class.

Required Readings

• Ladislav Bittman, The KGB and Soviet Disinformation (Pergamon Brassey’s, 1985), Chapter 4, “The Messenger,” pp. 70-90.   Check back for Bittman.
• Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov, The Secret World of American Communism (Yale University Press, 1995), “Julius and Armand Hammer,” pp. 26-31:  Download Klehr et al, Secret World of American Communism
• Herbert Romerstein, Soviet Agents of Influence (Center for Intelligence Studies, 1993), pp. 1-46.  Download Romerstein, Soviet Agents of Influence
• Allen W. Dulles, “The Communist Attack Upon Parliamentary Government,” essay in Soviet Total War (Committee Document, House Committee on Un-American Activities, September 30, 1956), Vol. II, pp. 423-430.  Download Allen Dulles, Communist Attack Upon Parliamentary Government
• Louis Budenz, The Techniques of Communism (Regnery, 1954), Chapter 7, “The Role of the Communist Press,” pp. 125-149; Chapter 8, “Affecting Public Opinion,” pp. 153-180; and Chapter 11, “Use and Abuse of Minority Groups,” pp. 250-277.
• Paul M. A. Linebarger, Psychological Warfare (Coachwhip reprint, 2010). Read entire book; it’s last on this list because of the organization of the course, but you need to read it and know it thoroughly nevertheless.

Handout (in class)

• Political Intelligence from the Territory of the USSR – Training Text. (Moscow: Red Banner Yu. V. Andropov Institute of the KGB, 1989). Translated selections from a KGB training manual, Politicheskaya razvedka s territorii CCCP – Uchevnoye nosovie (Moskva, Krasnoznamennii Institut KGB SSSR imeni Yu. B. Andropova, 1989). This is a real exclusive for this course – the only known copy of the classified KGB training text on recruitment of foreign agents of influence.

Recommended Readings

• Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner, eds., Venona: Soviet Espionage and the American Response 1939-1957 (Washington: National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency, 1996).
• Edward Jay Epstein, Dossier – the Secret History of Armand Hammer (New York: Random House, 1996).
• Stephen Koch, Double Lives: Spies and Writers in the Secret Soviet War of Ideas Against the West (New York: Free Press, 1994), entire book.
• Robert Manne, Agent of influence: The life and times of Wilfred Burchett (Mackenzie paper) (Toronto: Mackenzie Institute, 1989).
• Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, The Venona Secrets, Exposing Soviet Espionage and America’s Traitors (Regnery, 2000).
• Steve Weinberg, Armand Hammer: The Untold Story (Boston: Little, Brown, 1989).

Class 7: Propaganda and the media

Journalists are a propagandist’s favored target and are often used, wittingly and unwittingly, as transmission belts of information to affect the perceptions and policies of the American public and government.

The foreign propagandist will exploit the biases, economics, editorial policies and hubris of the American journalistic profession, and penetrate the media from various attack points.

This class will look at the issue of foreign propaganda and the press from a historical perspective, with emphasis on case studies from the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, Vietnam, and current conflicts with Islamist extremism.

Assignment: Everyone must come to class with a hard copy of an example of foreign propaganda in the American press from the previous five days and be prepared to describe it. We will discuss these examples in class.

Required Readings

• Larry Berman, Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter and Vietnamese Communist Agent (Smithsonian Books, 2007). Read entire book. Pay close attention to how the North Vietnamese spy ran operations via the American news media during the war. Read between the lines of this book.
• Stephen Koch, Double Lives: Spies and Writers in the Secret Soviet War of Ideas Against the West (New York: Free press, 1994; revised and reissued as Double Lives: Stalin, Willi Munzenberg and the Seduction of the Intellectuals), Chapter 1, “Lying for the Truth.”  Download Koch_Double_Lives
• Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel, The Venona Secrets, Exposing Soviet Espionage and America’s Traitors (Washington: Regnery, 2000), Chapter 2, “An ‘Agent of Influence’ Makes History,” pp. 29-53 Download Venona – Ch2; and Chapter 13, “Target: Journalists,” pp. 429-445 Download Venona – Ch13.

Recommended Readings

• W. Lance Bennett, News: The Politics of Illusion, 5th ed. (Longman, 2003).
• Phillip Knightley, The First Casualty: From the Crimea to Vietnam: The War Correspondent as Hero, Propagandist, and Myth Maker (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975).
• Sarah Midgley and Virginia Rice, eds., Terrorism and the Media in the 1980s (The Media Institute, 1984).
• Nancy Palmer, ed., Terrorism, War and the Press (Hollis, 2003).

Class 8: A higher form of propaganda: Washington’s lobbying industry

The lobbying industry in Washington is one of the most effective forms of foreign propaganda to influence American perceptions and decision-making. The method consists of “government relations” professionals – usually former congressmen, senators, legislative staff, military officers, bureaucrats and diplomats – who hire themselves out to clients as agents of influence. They add value to the foreign propaganda client because of their personal access to the target audiences.

Some lobbyists work only for US entities, or allies of the United States. Some will work for foreign clients, but not those generally considered national security threats. Some will work for national security threats but will try to rationalize that they’re doing it in the interests of better relations and peace. Many are pure mercenaries who will work for anybody who pays them.

In this class, we’ll look at various case studies, centered first on the case of Japan as described by author Pat Choate. We will also study Saudi, Chinese and other examples, including the case of a large European aircraft manufacturer intent on penetrating the US defense procurement market.

Required readings

• Pat Choate, Agents of Influence: How Japan Manipulates America’s Political and Economic System (New York: Touchstone, 1991), Chapter 4, “Washington’s Revolving Door,” pp. 49-63; Chapter 5, “Japan Buys Washington,” pp. 64-76; Chapter 7, “Hidden Interests,” pp. 109-120; Chapter 8, “The Politicians’ Politician,” pp. 121-131; and Chapter 9, “Grass-Roots Politicking,” 132-143. Note: This book was written during a time when Japanese economic strength was ascendant and many feared that the United States was in decline. Its case studies are illustrative of a widespread phenomenon in American political culture.
• Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, The Lobbyists (New York: Times Books/Random House, 1992), Chapter 1, “The Usual Retainers,” pp. 3-21.  Download Birnbaum_Lobbyists.pdf
• Matt Welch, “Shilling for the House of Saud: Former US Ambassadors Have Become Saudi Arabia’s Apologists,” National Post (Toronto), 27 August 2002. Download welch_house_of_saud1.pdf
• Ben Geman, “Diplomacy for Hire,” Boston Phoenix, 1 June 1999.
• Timothy P. Carney, “The Revolving Door Spins Out a New John Warner,” Washington Examiner, October 7, 2009.
• Nick Schwellenbach, “A ‘Murtha Method’ Encore,” Center for Public Integrity, October 7, 2009.
• “Boeing, EADS Spend $125 Million for AF Tanker Contract,” United Press International, July 14, 2010.
• Matt Corley, “Sen. Shelby Holding Up All Obama Nominees – Including Top Security Officials – To Secure Pork for Alabama,” ThinkProgress.org, February 5, 2010. (For a variation on this topic, see Robert H. Engstrom, “[Senator] Shelby Shills for Airbus,” Human Events, February 8, 2010.)
• “Senator Shelby’s Pork Parade,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, undated. This is a long paper, but for the purposes of this class it’s necessary to read only the first paragraph. Similar reports can be written about hundreds of lawmakers. I chose Senator Shelby because he has been such a stauch agent of influence for the French-German-Russian aircraft manufacturer EADS.
• R. James Woolsey, “Why We Spy On Our Allies,” Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2000. The former CIA director’s essay addresses EADS/Airbus use of bribery of foreign leaders to out-compete the US aircraft industry abroad, and how the CIA collected intelligence that was used to neutralize those corrupt practices. This essay shows how the bribery abroad complements EADS’ lobbying in the United States.
• “Congress’s Revolving Door,” editorial, Washington Post, December 10, 2012. This editorial is about domestic lobbying, but the idea applies also to Members of Congress who become lobbyists for foreign entities.

View the video

This video shows firsthand how a corrupt US congressman volunteers to serve as an agent of influence for foreign interests.

In the 1970s the FBI set up several crooked lawmakers in a sting operation known as ABSCAM. Agents posed as representatives of wealthy Arab sheiks. In this FBI surveillance video, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) discusses his terms for acting as an agent of influence, bragging about his access and influence with the president, speaker of the House, and congressional leadership; volunteering to show the sheiks how to park their money in his district, the extent of his willingness to profit financially from the deals, and offering to advise them on how the operation can work.

Some lawmakers were convicted. Murtha was not. He was a relatively new congressman at the time, and by the time of his death in early 2010 was one of the most influential over the US military, as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on defense. This 53-minute video is the unedited original from the FBI. Murtha is seated on the couch, to the right of the lamp.

The first few minutes contain the FBI agent’s statement for the record and the introduction of Murtha. Things go slowly until about 13:00 in the video (you might want to fast-forward through most of it). Then the horse-trading begins. This video is a very useful educational tool. The FBI agents try to get the congressman to take a $50,000 cash bribe on video, but Murtha is cagey, saying he’s not ready to take any cash at the moment but says he will likely be interested later. (He says that he’s an Ethics Committee member and knows how money things have a tendency to “fall apart.” His issue is not whether something is right or wrong, but about how he can cover his tracks.)

Recommended Readings

• “Airbus’ Secret Past,” The Economist, June 12, 2003.
• Robert Angel, Ivan P. Hall and Ronald A. Morse, “The Mutual Understanding Industry: Three Views on the Shaping of American Perspectives on Japan,” JPRI Working Paper No. 2, Japan Policy Research Institute, September 1994.
• Hedrick Smith, The Power Game: How Washington Works (New York: Ballantine, 1996).
• Elsa Walsh, “The Prince: How the Saudi Ambassador Became Washington’s Indispensable Operator,” The New Yorker, 24 March 2003, pp. 48-63. (This link goes to a PDF of the New Yorker article, as hosted on a Saudi Embassy website. Note the URL: www.saudiembassy.net. Someone is squatting on www.saudiembassy.com.)

Class 9: Denial and deception

Denial and Deception (D&D) is a two-pronged concept in which one attempts to protect vital information from reaching a potential adversary (denial), while misleading that potential adversary about one’s true intentions, capabilities and vulnerabilities (deception).

Several lectures have explored the issue of deception, but this class studies D&D as a unitary concept for tactical and strategic purposes.

Although the United States practices D&D – and there is growing sentiment for it to use it with greater depth and scope against the terrorist enemy and other governments – the class focuses on how foreign governments and entities practice D&D against the U.S.

Question to consider while reading on the subject: Did Saddam Hussein run a D&D operation against Iran to deter a second Iran-Iraq war – and might Western intelligence services and United Nations inspectors been deceived by it, leading to the US decision to attack the regime in 2003?

Required Readings

• Barton Whaley, “The Prevalence of Guile: Deception through Time and across Cultures and Disciplines,” Foreign Denial & Deception Committee, National Intelligence Council, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 2007. Read entire paper. Download The Prevalence of Guile TEXT 2007-0525
• Roy Godson and James J. Wirtz, “Strategic Denial and Deception,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, Vol. 13, 2000, pp. 424-437. Download strategic_denial_and_deception.pdf
• Abram Shulsky, “Elements of Strategic Denial and Deception,” in Roy Godson and James J. Wirtz, eds., Strategic Denial and Deception (Transaction Publishers/National Strategy Information Center, 2002), including commentaries by Richards J. Heuer, Jr. and Nina Stewart, pp. 15-39. Download shulsky_elements_of_strategic_denial_and_deception.pdf
• Senior Defense Official, “Background Briefing on Enemy Denial and Deception,” U.S. Department of Defense News Transcript, 24 October 2001, pp. 1-15. (The “Senior Defense Official,” who had to be anonymous at the time, was our own Professor John Yurechko. He’s in the photo giving the briefing.)
• U.S. Department of Defense, “Denial and Deception Strategy,” 8 pages from “Enemy Denial and Deception” briefing, 24 October 2001.

Recommended Readings

• J. Bowyer Bell, “Toward a Theory of Deception,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, Vol. 16, 2003, pp. 244-279.
• David A. Charters and Maurice A. J. Tugwell, eds., Deception Operations: Studies in the East-West Conflict (London: Brassey’s, 1990).
• Roy Godson and James J. Wirtz, eds., Strategic Denial and Deception (Transaction Publishers/National Strategy Information Center, 2002).
• Walter Jajko, “Deception: Appeal for Acceptance; Discourse on Doctrine; Preface to Planning,” Comparative Strategy, Vol. 21, 2002, pp. 351-363.
• Ed Waltz, “Integrating Methods and Tools to Counter Denial and Deception,” BAE Systems, nd. Download Integrating Methods and Tools to Counter Denial and Deception

Class 10: Disinformation and forgeries

Forgeries and disinformation can be successful tools of propaganda. The Soviets used them extensively, with varying degrees of success. Using mostly Soviet historical examples, this class explores how forgeries and disinformation were intended to influence US and other public opinion and/or decision-making, and how they succeeded or failed. The professor will use copies of actual Soviet KGB forgeries in illustrating the cases.

We will also look at non-Soviet examples, including the fabrication of forgeries online. And we’ll discuss the question of whether or not we, in our digitally exhibitionist, socially-networked culture, are creating everything a forger needs for future operations.

A subtheme of the class concerns deception of intelligence collectors, analysts and consumers.

Required Readings

• Edward Jay Epstein, Deception: The Invisible War Between the KGB and the CIA (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989), Chapter 2, “The Trust,” pp. 22-30; Chapter 7, “The Theory of Perfect Deception,” pp. 105-110; Chapter 13, “The Denial of Deception,” pp. 196-215; and Chapter 14, “The Confidence Game” (especially the description of Iranian deception of the Reagan National Security Council in the Iran-Contra affair), pp. 216-225.
• Anatoly Golitsyn, New Lies for Old (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1984), Part 1, Chapter 1, “The Problems Facing Western Analysts,” pp. 3-9; Chapter 2, “The Patterns of Disinformation,” pp. 10-17; Chapter 6, “The Shelepin Report and Changes in Organization,” pp. 46-51; and Chapter 7, “The New Role of Intelligence,” pp. 52-57; Chapter 9, “The Vulnerability of Western Assessments,” pp. 65-69; Chapter 10, “Communist Intelligence Successes, Western Failures, and the Crisis in Western Studies,” pp. 70-78; Chapter 24, “The Impact of the Disinformation Program,” 309-323. [Cautionary note: This is an important book with good ideas and concepts, but at times the author can overdo them, so readers should be especially discerning. The author often makes inaccurate generalizations and false assumptions, some of which are a few steps beyond reality. For example, concerning the case of the Polish trade union Solidarity, which the KGB infiltrated and attempted to manipulate, Golitsyn jumps to the unsubstantiated conclusion that Solidarity was a KGB operation. I have attempted to assign only sections that are most reliable. Golitsyn was an important defector, but one must be careful in reading defector accounts because of a frequent tendency to expand on their commentaries to issues outside their areas of direct knowledge, while leading the reader to think that the defector remained "in the know." My assessment of Golitsyn is based on the opinions of professional US intelligence officers and other personnel who worked directly with him.]
• Bruce Johnston and Kim Willsher, “Italy Blames France for Niger Uranium Claim,” Daily Telegraph (London), 5 September 2004.Download Johnston – Italy Blames France for Niger Uranium Claim
• Herbert Romerstein, “Tricks of the Terror Trade,” Washington Times, 21 July 2004. Download Romerstein, Tricks of the Terror Trade
• U.S. Department of State, “Forgery, Disinformation, Political Operations,” Special Report No. 88, October 1981. Download Forgery and political operations
• U.S. Department of State, “Soviet Active Measures: Focus on Forgeries,” Foreign Affairs Note, April 1983. Download Soviet Active Measures Focus on Forgeries

Recommended Reading

• Ladislav Bittman, The Deception Game: Czechoslovak Intelligence in Soviet Political Warfare (Syracuse: Syracuse University Research Corp., 1972).
• _____, The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider’s View (Washington: Pergamon Brassey’s, 1985), especially Chapter 5, “The Art of Forgery,” pp. 91-107.
• Dino A. Brugioni, Photo Fakery: The History and Techniques of Photographic Deception and Manipulation
• John J. Dziak, “Soviet Deception: The Organizational and Operational Tradition,” in Brian D. Dailey and Patrick J. Parker, eds., Soviet Strategic Deception (Lexington: Lexington Books, 1987), Chapter 1, pp. 3-20.
• Roy Godson, “‘AIDS – Made in the USA’: Moscow’s Contagious Campaign,” Ladislav Bittman, ed., The New Image-Makers: Soviet Propaganda and Disinformation Today (Washington: Pergamon-Brasseys, 1988), Chapter 10, pp. 221-226.
• _____ and James J. Wirtz, eds., Strategic Denial and Deception (Transaction Publishers/National Strategy Information Center, 2002).
• Anatoly Golitsyn, New Lies for Old (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1984).
• Alain Jaubert, Making People Disappear: An Amazing Chronicle of Photographic Deception (Washington: Pergamon-Brassey’s, 1986).
• Walter Poelchau, ed., White Paper, Whitewash: Interviews with Philip Agee on the CIA and El Salvador (New York: Deep Cover Books, 1981). A primary source example of a recruited Soviet-bloc agent, formerly a CIA officer, serving as a source of disinformation. Agee died in Cuba in 2008.
• Herbert Romerstein, “Digging up discredited old fables,” Washington Times, 21 February 1999.
• _____, “Divide and Conquer: The KGB Disinformation Campaign Against Ukrainians and Jews,” unpublished manuscript.
• _____ and Stanislav Levchenko, The KGB Against the ‘Main Enemy’ (Lexington: Lexington Books, 1987), Chapter 3, “Forgeries,” pp. 35-46; and Chapter 4, “The Whalen and Tanaka Forgeries,” pp. 47-59.
• Richard H. Shultz and Roy Godson, Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy (Washington: Pergamon Brassey’s, 1984).
• Robert Strausz-Hupe, et al., Protracted Conflict: A Challenging Study of Communist Strategy (New York: Harper Colophon, 1964), Chapter 5, “Deception and Distraction,” pp. 67-84.
• U.S. House of Representatives. Soviet Covert Action (The Forgery Offensive), Hearings before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 96th Congress, 2nd Session, 6 and 19 February 1980.

Class 11: Chinese propaganda and perceptions management

This class studies the development of the perceptions management theory and practice of the People’s Republic of China toward the United States and other Western countries from the 1970s after Mao’s death to the present.

We will discuss how Beijing shed old propaganda theory for a new, sophisticated approach among decision-making elites and in the population at large; and how the US has found it difficult to identify and counter such operations.

The PRC government has managed to gain influence footholds in both US political parties. We’ll also see how the PRC induced a major US defense contractor to serve as an agent of influence.

Required Readings

• Ellul, Propaganda, Appendix II, “Mao Tse-tung’s Propaganda.”
• Joshua Kurlantzick, Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power Is Transforming the World (Yale University Press, 2007).
• Steven W. Mosher, China Misperceived: American Illusions and Chinese Reality (New Republic Books, 1990), pp. 144-157. Download Mosher – China Misperceived
• Richard Bernstein and Ross H. Munro, The Coming Conflict with China (Knopf, 1997), Chapter 4, “The New China Lobby,” pp. 105-129. Download munro_coming_conflict_with_china.PDF
• J. Michael Waller, “China’s Agents of Influence,” Insight, 1 May 2000.
• _____, “China’s Political Strategy Against the United States,” Insight, 23 April 2001.
• _____, “PLA Revises the Art of War,” Insight, 28 February 2000.
• James Mann, About Face: A History of America’s Curious Relationship with China, from Nixon to Clinton (Knopf, 1999), pp. 241-245. This is a unique story of how a single political operative can successfully counter a Chinese propaganda effort. [The library copy of this book has "disappeared," so I will bring handouts of this short section for us to go over in class.]
• Brooks Jackson, “Clinton’s Re-Election Road Paved with Money,” CNN/Time, 24 February 1997.
• US Department of Justice, “James Riady Pleads Guilty/Will Pay Largest Fine in Campaign Finance History for Violating Federal Election Law,” press release, 11 January 2001.
• On the PRC’s efforts to hide ancient history: Clifford Coonan, “Mystery of the Mummy’s Chinese Travel Ban,” The Independent (London), 5 February 2011.
• Matthew Garrahan and Kathrin Hille, “China to Expand English Language TV Service,” Financial Times, November 7, 2011.
• John Pomfret, “Secret Taiwan Fund Sought Friends, Influence Abroad,” Washington Post, 6 April 2002.

Recommended Reading

• Edward Timperlake and William C. Triplett II, Year of the Rat (Regnery, 2000). This book, written by a former military officer-turned-congressional investigator and a former counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, documents Chinese government penetration of US politics in a case study of the Clinton administration. Above, Mann writes about how Triplett acted as a one-man counterpropaganda team in the Senate against the PRC.
• Frederick T. C. Yu, Mass Persuasion in communist China (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1964). Studies the early domestic propaganda operations of the Chinese Communist Party to consolidate control over the population in the decade after its seizure of power.

Class 12: Networked propaganda warfare

Netwar pertains to information-age conflict on the low-intensity, social end of the spectrum in which networked actors, usually small non-state entities or even individuals, could operate conjointly against larger, more powerful targets.

Information technology has empowered networked organization versus hierarchical structures, enabling groups to conduct “statecraft” in a realm in diplomatic, security and military affairs previously reserved for states and trans-state organizations. Netwar creates a challenge for government policymakers, as well as a need to develop theories and strategies for counternetwar.

Required readings (Note: More will be added)

• John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt, eds., Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy (Santa Monica and Washington: RAND Corporation, 2001), “Summary,” pp. ix-xii. On reserve. Download Networks&Netwars Summary  [Note: The entire text of this book can be downloaded at no charge as .pdf documents from the RAND website at: http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1382/.]
• John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt, eds., In Athena’s Camp: Preparing for Conflict in the Information Age (Santa Monica and Washington: RAND Corporation, 1997) Chapter 12, “The Advent of Netwar,” pp. 275-294. Download Athena Ch 12  [Note: The entire text of this book can be downloaded at no charge as .pdf documents from the RAND website at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR880/.]
• David Ronfeldt and John Arquilla, “What Next for Networks and Netwars?” Networks and Netwars, Chapter 10, pp. 311-362. Download Networks&Netwars Ch 10

Recommended readings

• David Ronfeldt and Armando Martinez, “A Comment on the Zapatista ‘Netwar,’” In Athena’s Camp, Chapter 16, pp. 369-391. For more on this, see David Ronfeldt, ed., The Zapatista Social Netwar in Mexico (RAND, 1999).

Class 13: Islamist propaganda in the United States

This class builds on netwar theory with a very intensive lecture on enemy Islamist propaganda and political warfare campaigns surrounding the war on terrorism around the world and within the United States. We will examine enemy threat doctrine of organizations and movements that presently do not practice violence as a matter of policy, those that are presently violent, and those that had been violent but have ostensibly renounced or chosen not to employ violence.

The class discusses: (a) structures, functions, methods and themes of netwar components to promote terrorist causes and frustrate U.S. counter-terrorism efforts; (b) reasons why the US finds it so difficult to counter these networks; (c) security and intelligence shortcomings and requirements; (d) integration of political/information operations with kinetic counter-terrorism operations; and (e) and US government approaches to counter terrorist netwar and propaganda. We will also debate the question: “Did foreign entities with the same strategic goals as al Qaeda shape American perceptions and policy to divert our attention to fighting terrorism as a tactic, and away from defending against or countering those with the same strategic goals?”

We will focus on the Muslim Brotherhood as a case study.

Required Readings

• Center for Security Policy, Shariah: The Threat To America: An Exercise In Competitive Analysis (Report of Team B II) (Washington: Center for Security Policy, 2010), entire book.
• Mohamed Akram, “An Explanatory Memorandum on the Strategic Goal for the Group in North America,” Muslim Brotherhood strategic planning document, unpublished, in Arabic with English translation, 22 May 1991. Seized in FBI raid as part of North American Muslim Brotherhood archive from secret subbasement of home of Hamas operative Ismail Selim Elbarasse, Annandale Virginia, August 2004, and entered without contestation as evidence for the prosecution in United States v Holy Land Foundation et al., terrorist finance trial, 2004-2008. MB Explanatory Memo 1991 Read the English translation of this document (or the Arabic original if you are able).
• J. Michael Waller, “‘Wahhabi Lobby’ Takes the Offensive,” Insight, 5 August 2002.
• _____, “Domestic Front in the War on Terror,” Insight, 7 January 2002.
• _____, “Undermining the War on Terror,” Insight, 18-31 March 2003.
• _____, “Alamoudi and Those Bags of Libyan Cash,” Insight, 28 October-10 November 2003.
• William H .Webster, Chairman, Final Report of the William H. Webster Commission on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Counterterrorism Intelligence, and the Events at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009 (Publisher redacted; heavily redacted final report released July 2012). Webster Commission redacted final report
• More readings will be added.

Recommended Readings

• Matthew A. Levitt, Senior Fellow in Terrorism Studies, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, “Subversion from Within: Saudi Funding of Islamic Extremist Groups Undermining U.S. Interests and the War on Terror from the United States,” testimony before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, United States Senate, 10 September 2003.