PAUL LINEBARGER - Tracing the Cover Story

PAUL LINEBARGER – TRACING THE BLACK PROP OPS COVER STORY

One of David Atlee Philip’s mentors, especially in regards to psychological warfare and black propaganda operations, was Professor Paul Linebarger of the School for Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University.

Now John Hopkins is a good medical school which I believe is based in Baltimore, but Linebarger conducted his classes at his Washington D.C. home every Friday evening, educating more than one generation of spies in the black arts. Among his students were Joseph B. Smith, David Phillips, Ed Lansdale and E. Howard Hunt.

In order to get to his class Linebarger required his students to take precautionary, evasive measures before arriving and after leaving the class.

That’s why I got off the train suddenly outside Baltimore, because I want to check out two places – Fort Detrich (MKULTRA) and Fort Meade (NSA), which I unobtrusively cased out from a distance.

In any case, Linebarger wrote the textbook, “Psychological Warfare – International Propaganda and Communications,” (Arno Press, 1948, 1954, 1972, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, N.Y.), which sets the tone for controlling the minds of the masses by simply using the right message.

According to Linebarger: “Psychological warfare, in the broad sense, consists of the application of parts of the science called psychology to the conduct of war; psychological warfare comprises the use of propaganda against the enemy, together with such military operational measures as may supplement the propaganda. Propaganda may be described, in turn, as organized persuasion by non-violent means. War itself may be considered to be, among other things, a violent form of persuasion….War is waged against the minds, not the bodies of the enemy.”

The term “propaganda” stems from the department of the Vatican which had the duty of propagating the faith.

Specifically defined, “propaganda consists of the planned use of any form of public or massproduced communication designed to affect the minds and emotions of a given group for a specific purpose, whether military, economic or political. Military propaganda consists of the planned use of any form of communication designed to affect the minds and emotions of a given enemy, neutral or friendly foreign group for a specific strategic or tactical purpose.”

Linebarger: “Propaganda is directed to the subtle niceties of thought by which people maintain their personal orientation in an unsuitable interpersonal world. Propaganda must use the language of the mother, the schoolteacher, the lover, the bully, the policeman, the actor, the ecclesiastic, the buddy, the newspaperman, all of them in turn. And propaganda analysis, in weighing and evaluating propaganda must be even more discriminating whether the propaganda is apt to hit its mark or not.”

Using what Linebarger called the STASM formula for spot analysis, propaganda can be distinguished by the consideration of five elements : 1 – Source (including the media), 2 – Time, 3 – Audience, 4- Subject, 5 – Mission.

“This formula works best in the treatment of monitored materials of which the source is known. First point to note is the character of the Source – the true source (who really got it out?), the ostensible source 9whose name is signed to it?); also the first use source (who used it the first time?) and the second use source (who claims to be using it as a quotation?). It is soon evident that the mere attribution of  source is a job of high magnitude. A systematic breakdown of the STASM formula produces the following analysis outline: applicable to any single propaganda item, civil or military, in war or peace, spoken, visual or printed.” 

            There are five types of propaganda: 1 – Defensive, which maintains an accepted form of social action, 2 – Offensive, which interrupts social action not desired, 3 – Conversionary, which challenges allegiance, 4 – Divisive, which splits aparts opposition components, and 5 – Consolidation, which insures compliance of target community.

            White propaganda is a press release, Light propaganda is attributed to a friendly source, Medium to a neutral government, and so on.

            Black Propaganda, as compared to White, Light, Medium and Dark-Grey propaganda, is by defination, specifically attributed to the opposition and allegedly supports the oppossition’s position.

            “Black Propaganda is a fundamental intelligence operation,” notes Linebarger, “because…it never identifies its real source, and pretends to originate within or close to the enemy.”

            At the end of one of his classes, Joe Smith quotes Linebarger as saying, “I hate to think what would ever happen if any of you ever got involved in U.S. politics. These kinds of dirty tricks must never be used in internal U.S. politics. The whole system would fall apart.”

The principles of Black Propaganda and psychological warfare were applied with much success in “Operation Success” in the Guatemalan coup in 1954, which was a blatant interference by the USA and CIA on behalf of American corporate business interests, specifically United Fruit.

Then “the Guatemalan Model” was unsuccessfully, almost disastrously applied to Cuba, using many of the same personnel – including David Atlee Phillips.

These same principles of psychological warfare were also applied to the assassination of President Kennedy, where the original cover-story that Castro Communists were behind Kennedy’s murder, was surplanted by the equally implausible substitute Lone-Nut Scenario, in the interests of national security and world peace.

            Since such black propaganda operations as the ones used at Dealey Plaza, can be traced to their origin, using Linebarger’s formula, it is possible to trace it back to its sponsors, who must be very close to those who were behind the assassination of President Kennedy.

As an opening example of the application of the STASM formula for the analysis of propganda, I will provide what I immediately recognized as a Black Prop Op in action when I read the headline of the March 12, 1981 Philadelphia Daily News: “Castro Plot to Murder Reagan.”

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