The Office of War Information (OWI) was created under Franklin D. Roosevelt to act as a propaganda machine for World War II. Americans were wary of the agency until the Pearl Harbor attack promoted the public to hand over more power to the government, in a similar fashion to how a slew of laws were implemented post-9/11. The domestic branch of OWI promoted the war in films, posters, radio broadcasts, photography, and other forms of media. Before the dawn of the internet, this is how the public learned about the war overseas.
In the World War II era, the OWI promoted the phrase “loose lips sink ships.” The US Air Force attempted to issue a similar slogan during the war in Afghanistan – “loose tweets destroy fleets.” ISIS used social media and the internet to promote its agenda and spread fear across the West. This was our first glimpse of war fought via the world wide web.
Capt. Jonathan McDonald, AFCENT Force Protection Chief said in 2015, “As social media keeps evolving and there’s more and more avenues to let your friends and family know what you are up to, those same avenues can be used by ISIS sympathizers, ‘lone wolves,’ to track down and hurt our military members outside the safety of the base. So not only is it important to not post vital mission related information, but it’s also important to not post detailed personal information to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.”
The reason this is important is because the president recently formed his Disinformation Governance Board, and there would be no better way to roll out this program than by using the guise of national security. After Pearl Harbor and 9/11, people assumed the enemy was easily identifiable. The OWI promoted the use of Japanese internment camps under the weak argument that everyone from Japan sympathized with the Japanese government and could become a threat to national security. Under the Patriot Act, we allowed the government to compile our data and screen everyone at the airport in case the enemy was undetected.
The Disinformation Governance Board will determine the next enemy. The president has already stated the largest threat to national security is the “ultra MAGA” supporters, many of whom simply voted for the other candidate in the two-party system. Russia is the enemy, China is the enemy, and YOU may become the enemy.
