Today, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, made the following remarks on the hearing titled "Countering Adversarial Propaganda: Charting an Effective Course in the Contested Information Environment:"
"This hearing will focus on the challenges faced by the Department of Defense and the federal government when dealing with the insidious propaganda and social media messaging coming from groups like Da’esh, and sadly from countries such as Russia, China and others. Not only do they recruit members, raise money, and sway the opinions of potential allies with this propaganda, but they sow doubt and dissension as a means of preventing or discouraging U.S. military action to protect American families.
Last month, our subcommittee held a closed roundtable discussion with outside industry and academic experts to explore this topic. That discussion helped our members better understand some core challenges and concerns, including:
• What are our current capabilities for information operations and counter-propaganda, and how are they being integrated into larger strategies to deal with specific actors like Da’esh, Russia, Iran, China and others? • How can new technologies and concepts improve our ability to sense, detect, analyze, and respond to propaganda in the 21st century media environment? • What policy challenges impair our ability to realize the full potential of these new technologies and concepts?
These questions and issues remain relevant to today’s hearing. Our panel of expert witnesses will proceed from that starting point, and provide us with their thoughts from a governmental perspective on this important topic.
Our witnesses before us today are:
The Honorable Michael Lumpkin Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict
The Honorable Matthew Armstrong Broadcasting Board of Governors
Major General Christopher K. Haas Director, Force Management and Development, United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM)
Brigadier General Charles Moore Deputy Director for Global Operations, Joint Staff"
