SOVIETS SPEND BILLIONS ON DISINFORMATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200860001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 20, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200860001-4
WASHINGTON TIMES
ARTICLE APPEARED 20 August 1984
ON PAGE ;28
Soviets spend b
on disinformation
Roy Godson on the Soviet
Union's use of disinformation.
Roy Godson is a professor of govern-
ment at Georgetown University, direc-
tor of the Washington office of the
National Strategy Information Center
and serves as a consultant to the
National Security Council. He was
interviewed by Edmond Jacoby of The
Washington Times.
Q: Pergamon Brassey's has just pub-
lished "Dezinformatsia," which you
wrote with Richard Shultz. The sub-
ject is Soviet "disinformation" pro-
grams. Explain disinformation.
A: "Disinformation" is one of two
Soviet terms. Today they call it "active
measures," which is the use of overt
and covert techniques to influence,
deceive and mislead the target. The
intention is to affect his behavior, to get
him to act in a way that is detrimental
to his own interest and, at the same
time, to act in a way favorable to Soviet
interests.
Q: How does it differ from ordinary
propaganda?
A: "Propaganda" has many different
meanings and people use it in different
ways, but the essence of propaganda
is to tell the truth as one sees it. It is to
project one's views in a favorable way,
and to show how the other side or other
point of view or other product is not as
good as yours. "Disinformation" uses
a combination of truth and falsehood.
Sometimes you use more truth, and
other times more false information.
In addition, propaganda is used to
affect people's attitudes with the hope
they will act a particular way. But "dis-
information" is designed to lead to
specific actions.
Q: You have done some research on
the recent "Ku Klux Klan letter" to
foreign Olympic committees. What can
you tell us about it?
A: The letter allegedly written by
the KKK to 10 or more countries in
Africa and Asia ... to discourage them
from attending the Olympic Games
was an example of "tactical disinfor-
mation" that was a part of an ongoing
"strategic disinformation" campaign.
It was a "tactical" move that had the
initial objective of justifying the
Soviet refusal to attend the Games,
[suggesting! there were crazy people
in the United States who would assault
or possibly kill foreign athletes. But
this was part of a "strategic disinfor-
mation" objective the Soviets have
been engaged in for decades.
The Soviets are trying to suggest -
as they did in their TASS reports -
that the KKK was just the extreme
[expression] of the American govern-
ment, that this was just an extreme
manifestation of American behavior -
and specifically that the Reagan
administration has been encouraging
these kinds of activities.
Q: Is it correct to say that the claim
the KKK wrote the letters was
accepted as fact around the world
because people are predisposed to
believe the KKK would do such a
thing?
A: That is correct. A good "disinfor-
mation" officer will pick issues
that seem plausible to the target. In
this case, there is a KKK. It has
engaged in terrorist activities. It is
racist. It could conceivably have said
some of the things [in the letter]. That
was intentionally linked by TASS to the
Reagan administration.
Q: Can you describe the clues in the
letter that point to KGB involvment?
A: Sure. The evidence is very strong
that this is a forgery. And without ref-
erence to any forensic information the
government might have in this case, I
think one can demonstrate that this
letter was produced by a fairly skillful
- but not terribly skillful - "disin-
formation" forgery specialist.
To begin with, the letter is titled:
"The Olympics - For The Whites
Only." Most Americans would have left
out the article "the" I in front of
"whites?]. And if you look at the
emblem on the I letter] itself, you will
see that it is allegedly issued by the
"Ku-Klux Klan." The Klan does not use
the hyphen when it refers to itself.
Third, the emblem-fon the letter] is
generic: There is no reference to the
"Klan in Virginia;' the "Klan in
Maryland" or the "Klan in Alabama"
Generally, each of the [KKK] units that
Contir_ted
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/24: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200860001-4