Welcome to this week’s Six Secrets. On the eve of April Fools' Day, we take a deep dive into the murky world of propaganda, false flag ops, fake news, and other sneaky tools spies and governments use to distort and distract.
The fine art of propaganda
America’s classic "I want YOU!" poster is a masterclass in persuasion. By transforming the US war machine into a family relation, WWI suddenly became personal - Uncle Sam needed the family’s help. And when he wanted mom and dad to buy bonds and keep an eye on the German neighbors, middle America obliged. SPYSCAPE looks at the tools of propaganda, the iconic images used throughout history, and the psychology behind the slogans.
One of the CIA’s more artistic Cold War operations involved loading copies of George Orwell’s Animal Farm into 10-foot-high balloons to airdrop into communist countries. The CIA hoped Orwell’s novel about rebellious farm animals would trigger debate about communism - and it wasn’t just hot air. The US spies viewed Animal Farm as a crucial propaganda tool.
False flag operations have an ignoble history dating back to pirates who hoisted another nation’s flag so they could blame their crimes on opponents. The war in Ukraine has brought the term back into the spotlight but what does it mean today? SPYSCAPE examines five modern false flag ops, including Operation Northwoods, a US Department of Defense proposal to target Americans.
Russia’s Internet Research Agency is one of the most notorious cybergangs in the world. The Trolls from Olgino, as the hackers are known, are suspected of misinformation campaigns and interfering in the 2016 US elections. So who are they are what are they up to now?
Roman Adamczyk’s job is to expose dirty tricks often used to serve a political agenda. He thought he’d seen it all until Roman uncovered a campaign that was so sophisticated it had to be linked to a foreign state. But which one? The investigation took him into a parallel universe of political operators who control the world with phony narratives.
Spies, world leaders, and invading armies have all used misleading information and fake news to help achieve their goals since long before the dawn of social media. Here are five of the biggest whoppers you probably don’t know about.
