{"id":55351,"date":"2024-04-22T09:08:45","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T08:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/?p=55351"},"modified":"2024-04-22T16:58:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T15:58:23","slug":"britains-covert-propaganda-campaign-over-kosovo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/britains-covert-propaganda-campaign-over-kosovo\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s covert propaganda campaign over Kosovo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recently declassified files reveal Britain\u2019s covert propaganda in support of NATO\u2019s bombing of Yugoslavia from March 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air strikes by NATO forces lasted until June 1999 when an agreement was reached leading to the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army from the province of Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) files<\/a> demonstrate the objective of British media operations was to convince the British and Serbian publics that NATO\u2019s illegal 78-day aerial bombing campaign of Yugoslavia – known as Operation Allied Force – was \u201ca just cause\u201d, and that its military forces were indomitable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this end, Downing Street staff and civil servants developed a coordinated network of media strategists and secretive units to furtively disseminate NATO propaganda through media outlets in Britain and the Balkans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UK military also sought to \u201cinfluence the behaviour\u201d of Yugoslav forces by way of psychological operations (psyops).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATO argued its intervention in Yugoslavia aimed to halt the alarming fatality rates reported<\/a> by Western officials, with estimates of 100,000 Kosovar Albanian men killed in a region roughly the size of Yorkshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crimes committed by the Yugoslav army and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) which it opposed, are documented in the files, though official investigators failed to find<\/a> evidence of massacres that was anywhere near the scale espoused by Western officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, NATO\u2019s aerial supremacy was seriously challenged<\/a> by heavy cloud cover and the ability of Yugoslav forces to evade air strikes. NATO\u2019s bombs were ineffective at swiftly halting the violence and in fact exacerbated<\/a> the death and displacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATO and British propaganda would therefore prove paramount in attempts to legitimise military adventurism under the pretence of humanitarian intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

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In Kosovo, NATO allies blame depleted uranium for cancer cases<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

‘By message, and the means’<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A letter<\/a> dated 15 <\/sup>April 1999 from Downing Street press secretary Alastair Campbell to Tony Blair\u2019s chief of staff Jonathan Powell, made clear that British planners considered \u201ccontrol and coordination\u201d of NATO\u2019s media campaign as vital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campbell stated this was \u201cbecause the propaganda battle is not just won by fact, but by message, and the means by which the message is deployed\u201d. In relation to Allied Force, he added that “the message is simple. This is a just cause. We are going to win”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Every big campaign requires a press article factory”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Campbell also proclaimed: \u201cThe key to message delivery is the creation of those events and stories. This requires making the most of what the military are doing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery big campaign requires a press article factory. Not a day should pass without us having authored or heavily influenced, comment\/editorial pieces in every major country\u201d, he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Achieving best coverage\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In tune with Campbell\u2019s modus operandi, a file<\/a> from earlier that month reveals that a “blitz of arguments and articles” had already been planned for national media by Campbell\u2019s deputy press secretary, Godric Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One proposal for the Sunday Telegraph<\/em>, read: “Chancellor Schr\u00f6der on why Germany felt it had to act\u201d and noted that \u201ccounterparts in Germany\u201d were \u201cin liaison with\u201d the Foreign Office. Another was for \u201can anonymised pilot in action over Kosovo for Saturday\u2019s Sun<\/em>\u201d, which was to be delegated to the \u201cMOD to process\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The files<\/a> show that strategy for UK regional media was to be coordinated by the MOD\u2019s director of information strategy and news, Oona Muirhead. Muirhead later described<\/a> her role as being \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d ensuring the \u201csystem worked\u201d and that the MOD\u2019s \u201cmedia operation operated effectively\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efforts were made to identify “key regional editors to be targeted” for briefing, “feeder services” for local radio pieces, and \u201c\u2019talking heads\u2019 with local credibility\u201d for TV. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, the government’s opaque Strategic Communications Unit was to provide \u201ckey contacts\u201d and support toward “achieving best coverage”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Editorial control\u2019 <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a letter<\/a> in early April, Britain\u2019s chief of defence staff, Sir Charles Guthrie, pleaded with NATO supreme commander Wesley Clark that British politicians be permitted \u201cto engage the enemy on the public relations front with sufficient ammunition\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of that month, British efforts in this area escalated, the documents indicate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A letter<\/a> from the chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Michael Pakenham, assured Blair\u2019s foreign affairs adviser, John Sawers, that the Foreign Office “put substantial effort” into increasing news broadcasting to Serbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to more BBC World Service broadcasting, the files note increased output from British Satellite News (BSN), with BSN daily news slots \u201cunder FCO [Foreign Office] editorial control\u201d being \u201cretransmitted by Montenegrin television\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Established in 1992 and self-described<\/a> as “a free television news and features service”, BSN operations were entirely funded by the Foreign Office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service was designed to project a \u201cBritish perspective\u201d of world events, and its content is reported<\/a> to have been in use by 400 news channels globally by 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
File from the UK National Archives.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

‘British fingerprints’<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Further revealed by Pakenham are the activities of a “Coordination Group in the Cabinet Office”, chaired by Sir Richard Gozney, the chief of assessments staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group was \u201ctasked with getting unbiased information into Serbia\u201d about events in Kosovo and the \u201cabuse of power\u201d by Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic \u201cand his cronies\u201d. This was to be done \u201cin a way which does not show British fingerprints\u201d, Pakenham noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt [the Group] has asked our embassies in Serbia\u2019s neighbours to feed material into local media for unattributable publication. Such material would be read by some Serbs\u201d, he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A letter<\/a> to Sawers from foreign secretary Robin Cook\u2019s principal private secretary, John Grant, acknowledged the group\u2019s Foreign Office representative was David\u00a0Landsman, formerly the deputy head of mission in Belgrade.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakenham\u2019s letter also noted that: \u201cThe group is co-ordinating the compilation of a long list of Serbian internet users. Some agencies are developing ways of exploiting it effectively without any British hand showing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How this data was obtained and what is meant by \u201cexploiting\u201d is not made clear, nor what kind of operational remit such activities fell under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report<\/a> published the year after Allied Force concluded there was \u201cno evidence\u201d the UK \u201cmade significant use of computer network attack [sic] against the Serbian military or civilian infrastructure\u201d during the operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without knowing how this list of internet users was obtained, or what the report constitutes as \u201csignificant\u201d, it is difficult to ascertain whether computer network attacks were employed in British strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201815 Information Support Group\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another document<\/a> from mid-April authored by the MOD\u2019s director of joint warfare, Brigadier Michael Laurie, detailed the deployment of 15 Information Support Group (15 ISG) to Macedonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equipped with a \u201cprint facility\u201d, 15 ISG were to be integrated into the US-led \u201cPsy Ops campaign to support Op Allied Force\u201d. Its commissioning officer was based in Naples, Italy under the Combined Joint Psy Ops Task Force (CJPOTF), where operations would be planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An MOD Allied Joint Doctrine<\/a> for Psychological Operations has described the aims of these activities as \u201cinfluencing approved target audiences directly\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

15 ISG\u2019s foreseen contribution was to produce propaganda leaflets to be dropped over Yugoslav army positions and Serbia\u2019s civilian population, and to \u201cgenerate appropriate Psy Ops themes and messages for inclusion in other broadcasts\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laurie explained that 15 ISG \u201cformed on 13 Mar[ch] 99 from 15 Psy Ops Group (15 POG)\u201d. While 15 POG had only become a permanent unit the previous year, it was first established<\/a> in 1991 following reported successes of British psyops efforts during the Gulf War against Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15 POG has described one success of its leafleting in Iraq as \u201cstrategic deception\u201d, which \u201cled Iraq to falsely believe that there would be a marine assault east of Kuwait\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laurie nevertheless upheld that under British defence doctrine the employment of psyops was \u201cto use entirely truthful messages to influence the behaviour of enemy, neutral and friendly forces\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leaflets<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One example<\/a> of a leaflet dropped over Yugoslav army positions in April 1999 featured the image of an Apache helicopter in attack, even though the aircraft was not used in Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another<\/a> claimed that “over 13,000 Yugoslavian service members have already left the armed forces”. To this assertion, Laurie lamented that \u201cthe CJPOTF in Naples will not disclose the source of their information, but its veracity is very doubtful”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the leaflets in Serbo-Croat dropped by NATO were full of grammatical errors and were reportedly<\/a> seen more as a source of amusement than persuasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar anecdotal evidence<\/a> suggests the linguistic quality of leaflets did improve as the operation wore on. However, those bearing threatening imagery and slogans would continue to be dropped over Yugoslav positions and civilian areas well after 15 ISG\u2019s deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, it was concluded<\/a> that the operations were wholly ineffective at forcing Yugoslav forces to abandon their positions and give up fighting or at galvanising Serbian public opinion in NATO\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobile news<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Further emphasised in the documents is use of a “Mobile News Team (MNT) in Macedonia”, whose “local boy stories” in print and film about serving British soldiers were to be “effectively pooled to regional correspondents”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operating under Headquarters Land Command, the MNT was a media production unit of the British Army, and its productions from Macedonia are held in the Imperial War Museum\u2019s archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another meeting record<\/a> noted that “a MOD film crew is onboard HMS Splendid”, the British Navy submarine that fired<\/a> 20 of the 238 Tomahawk missiles launched at targets in Serbia during the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Operation Allied Force exclusively involved aerial bombing, reporters were unable<\/a> to embed themselves with military units on the ground in Kosovo, as they and the MOD might have wished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year following the campaign, a parliamentary report<\/a> noted this constraint, along with the demands of 24 hour news and a decline of defence reporters in the British press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Media opportunity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This media environment, however, was noted as an \u201copportunity\u201d, as \u201cmost journalists were unable to challenge the MOD line and relied heavily on official briefings for their copy rather than on a network of contacts or informed analysis\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report acknowledged the perception that NATO\u2019s media messaging \u201cexaggerated the effectiveness of air strikes\u201d and admitted that \u201cassessments of the damage done\u201d to Yugoslav forces \u201cwere vastly over-estimated\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Most journalists were unable to challenge the MOD line”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Further recognised was the argument that \u201cthe Alliance wildly exaggerated the numbers of Kosovo Albanian civilians killed\u201d. It conceded that \u201cmore could have been done to give accurate information about the actual number of killings in Kosovo\u201d, and to \u201cprovide some corrective to the more lurid claims\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, it noted that the MOD strategy was \u201csuccessful\u201d in \u201cmobilising international and British public opinion\u201d. Thanks to the \u201cinstrumental\u201d role of Campbell, it stated British efforts were pivotal \u201cin ‘rescuing’ the NATO media operation\u201d and \u201cleading NATO\u201d in \u201csteadfastness and purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Integration of Psy Ops\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Further recorded by Laurie is the continuing \u201cintegration of psyops\u201d within planning of wider information operations, which incorporate the influencing of audiences outside of the purely military dimensions of psyops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report<\/a> from 2001 noted that the UK\u2019s information operations strategy was \u201cimmature at the time of the Kosovo campaign\u201d. It stated that considering \u201clessons learned\u201d, the MOD had put in \u201cnew structures\u201d to accelerate \u201cintegrating information operations and targeting\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another report<\/a> from 2004, former MOD chief of information operations, Air Vice-Marshall Heath, stated that psyops were \u201cvery much a part of Information Operations\u201d but maintained they are \u201cspecifically military\u201d and \u201cspecifically tactical\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 2004, 15 ISG would readopt<\/a> its former title of 15 POG before ultimately being absorbed<\/a> into the army\u2019s psyops unit the 77 Brigade in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Big Brother Watch investigation<\/a> last year revealed the 77 Brigade had spied on dissident academics, journalists and activists, especially during lockdowns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A brigade whistleblower wrote: \u201cI entered this role believing I would be surfacing foreign information warfare against our country. Instead, I found the banner of disinformation was a guise under which the British military was being deployed to monitor and flag our own concerned citizens to the government\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operation Allied Force would have grave consequences for the people of Yugoslavia. But the propaganda campaigns waged in its support would also set new precedents for civil surveillance in Britain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently declassified files reveal Britain\u2019s covert propaganda in support of NATO\u2019s bombing of Yugoslavia from March 1999. Air strikes by NATO forces lasted until June 1999 when an agreement was reached leading to the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army from the province of Kosovo. The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) files demonstrate the objective of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1359,"featured_media":55368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[234,17,19,137,6],"tags":[385,471],"coauthors":[472],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBritain\u2019s covert propaganda campaign over Kosovo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Declassified files show how officials in Tony Blair\u2019s government planted unattributable material in media outlets and coordinated a network to convince the public that its 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia was \u201ca just cause\u201d.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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