Soviet “Interplanetary Bacteria” & “Ghost Ships”: A Case Study in U.S. Psychological Warfare

“World map with WMD hazard symbols superimposed on it.” Wikimedia Commons, User:Andux, User:Vardion, and Simon Eugster (CC BY-SA 3.0) (link)

Today we are being bombarded relentlessly every day with “the planned use of propaganda and other psychological operations,” such as deception and misinformation, “to influence [our] opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior.” The Rand Corporation correctly describes the totality of this policy as “psychological warfare.”