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Strategic Influence Office 'Closed Down,' Says Rumsfeld
Tuesday, February 26, 2002
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

OSI, Rumsfeld remarked, "clearly was so damaged that it's pretty clear to me that it could not function effectively, so, it's being closed down."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
The Office of Strategic Influence will be closed, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today.

"I met with Undersecretary (of Defense for Policy) Doug Feith this morning, and he indicated to me that he's decided to close down the Office of Strategic Influence," Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters.

The OSI, under Feith's purview, was created last November to aid U.S. efforts to influence countries overseas to help or at least support the war against global terrorism. The office has been under criticism since a New York Times report that the office would plant false press releases in foreign media outlets to manipulate public opinion.

The media have asserted that such false stories -- or disinformation -- could eventually find their way into American news reports. Such a scenario, Rumsfeld has said in recent days, would be entirely contrary to DoD's policy on the dissemination of information to the public.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan