D&D Forum – Week 5
Select one of the Questions to Ponder as the topic for your Forum posting:
Questions to Ponder:
- Have Denial and Deception become obsolete in the face of modern intelligence gathering methods?
- Are new intelligence gathering capabilities still being defeated by adaptations of classic Denial and Deception methods?
- Have we witnessed the appearance of new Denial and Deception techniques?
- Do new techniques actually represent adaptations of old technique, and do they still succeed?
- How can Denial and Deception efforts still succeed with so much known about them?
- What areas besides military conflict do we see Denial and Deception being employed in?
Instructions:
Your initial post should be at least 250-500 words in length (not including references listed at the end). Please respond to at least 2 other students and one follow up question. Responses should be a minimum of 150 words in length and include references to the material.
Reading & Resources:
“Text of David Kay’s unclassified statement,” CCN.com/Inside Politics 2005
Johnson, Mark and Jessica Meyerann. 2003. “Military Deception: Hiding the Real-Showing the Fake.” Seminar Paper, Joint Forces Staff College.
Recommended – “Denial and Deception Practices of WMD Proliferators: Iraq and Beyond”
Recommended – David A.Kay, The Washington Quarterly, Winter 1995, Vol. 108, No. 1; pg.83-105. See Online Library for Washington Quarterly.
Student Response #1 – Harshul
What areas besides military conflict do we see Denial and Deception being employed in?
Besides military conflict we see Denial and Deception being employed in many other areas. One way is politically and an example of this is in the actions of Iraq in 1981 after Israel’s successful attack on its nuclear reactor. Iraq’s deception involved convincing the international community that it was abiding by non-proliferation guidelines by cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency personnel during visits and inspections and letting “…”Israel believe it destroyed our nuclear capacity, accept the sympathy being offered for this aggression and proceed in secret with the program” (MIT Press Journals 1995, 2). Another area is in the acquisition of materials which was also practiced by Iraq. By making use of front companies, usually by nefarious individuals and entities, and taking advantage of global communication networks the Iraqi government was able to move money, technology and goods across international borders. Denial and deception are most commonly associated with advertising and these practices are used quite often by the cosmetic, hospitality, food and other industries. A disparity between a product and its advertisement are noticed on a daily basis, whether it is cheeseburger at a fast food restaurant, a hotel room or an airbrushed photo of a celebrity on a magazine cover. Companies are willing to go above and beyond to make their “…products seem more appealing – from replacing actual ice cream with mashed potato for a more solid appearance to using motor oil for honey or syrup” (Daily Mail Reporter 2014, np). Their strategies seem to be working very well because in our society we continue to deny the natural and buy into the deception.
References
1. MIT Press Journals. 1995. Denial and deception practices of WMD proliferators: Iraq and beyond. (weapons of mass destruction) (Arms-Control Prospects). file:///C:/Users/aurile/Downloads/DenialandDeceptionPracticesofWMDProliferators.pdf (accessed October 24, 2014)
2. Daily Mail Reporter. 2014. The art of deceptive advertising: From brown shoe polish on burgers to hairspray for brighter ingredients, how commercials trick us into buying their products. Mail Online, June 11, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2655351/The-art-deceptive-advertising-From-brown-shoe-polish-burgers-hairspray-brighter-ingredients-commercials-trick-buying-products.html (accessed October 24, 2014)
Student Response #2 – Brandon
Have Denial and Deception become obsolete in the face of modern intelligence gathering methods?
Denial and Deception (D&D) has not become obsolete, nor is there any real chance that it will become obsolete anytime soon. Not only is the United States and other modern western nations still using D&D on a regular basis, but our adversaries continue to use D&D as aggressively as they have throughout our history. One of the most widely used D&D techniques by our adversaries today is disinformation. The Taliban have used disinformation as a regular part of their anti-American efforts for years now. A favorite practice of the Taliban is to create “disinformation by publicizing manipulated footage in order to outrage the world into thinking America and its allies were clumsily bombing civilian targets.” (Jessee 2006, 367). Unfortunately U.S. mainstream media doesn’t help this process because they will take the worst disinformation put out by an adversary such as the Taliban and run it as a story, and in that story the U.S. media will take every opportunity they can do sensationalize the story, usually blaming the U.S. government or military for being wrong in some capacity. That’s exactly what the Taliban want to happen, and the American public largely buys off on it. With as much success as the Taliban has had with their D&D efforts both on the physical battlefield and with propaganda, why would they stop? Clearly D&D is not obsolete. Devil Jessee demonstrates how widely used D&D is by pointing out that “the IRA, Italian mafia, and other such entities have used the tactics for some time, but a relatively new actor on the world stage, Al Qaeda, has quickly become one of the most effective nonstate users of denial and deception.” (Jessee 2006, 367). Organizations such as Al Qaeda don’t play by the same “rules” as the U.S. is bound by in the international community, which also helps Al Qaeda put together D&D efforts without any type of restriction, another reason that they continue to experience success with D&D. The U.S. and other western countries use D&D successfully too, but just in different capacities. We are bound by moral, ethical, and legal restrictions that our adversaries are not, and because of that methodologies will differ. For example, the U.S. has used D&D to mislead Al Qaeda about troop movements in various parts of Afghanistan, as well as misleading Al Qaeda about relationships we have will certain villages. D&D will continue to be an important part of both conventional and unconventional warfare around the world, as history has consistently shown.
Resource:
Jessee, D. D. (2006). Tactical Means, Strategic Ends: Al Qaeda’s Use Of Denial And Deception. Retrieved Nov. 3, 2014, from http://international.ucla.edu/media/files/FTPV_A_175157_P.pdf
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