The Fayetteville Observer March 5, 2011
Propriety of psy-ops request questioned
By John Ramsey
A soldier who accuses the staff of a three-star general in Afghanistan of ordering him to illegally influence U.S. lawmakers says the media got it wrong - he never had formal psychological operations training.
In a story published last week in Rolling Stone magazine, Lt. Col. Michael Holmes said Lt. Gen William Caldwell's subordinates assigned him and others in his information operations unit to improperly influence distinguished visitors, including U.S. Sens. Jack Reed, Joe Lieberman and John McCain.
Caldwell - a former 82nd Airborne Division commander now in charge of training Afghan security forces - denies any impropriety. Through his spokesman, Caldwell called the Rolling Stone article "misleading at best and outright false in many places."
Holmes said Thursday that he never intended to claim he was trained in psychological operations. He said the media ran with the term after it was used in Rolling Stone.
Holmes is an operations officer in the Texas Army National Guard's 71st Information Operations Group.
The information operations field includes electronic warfare, computer network operations, psychological operations and military deception, according to the Army. In other words, psy-ops is a specialty field that falls under the umbrella of "information operations."
Holmes described his job as using those elements together to try to change the way an enemy thinks in order to change the way it acts.
Regulations bar the use of psychological and deception operations on U.S. citizens.
Instead of focusing on turning insurgents, Holmes said, his unit in Afghanistan was asked to do things such as generate packets with information about visiting members of Congress using publicly available information.
Holmes complained that he shouldn't be ordered to manipulate visiting lawmakers with the intention of getting more funding and support for the war.
He said the command blurred the lines between informing and influencing.
If anyone found out that someone trained in information operations was putting together news briefings and packets, it would, at the very least, appear unethical, he said.
Holmes said the command crossed the line last March when it asked his unit to compile reports about what actions distinguished visitors took after their visits and how in the future to best refine the message to achieve desired outcomes. In the case of members of Congress, that would include influencing them to vote for more war funding, Holmes said.
"Target those people, find out what they did when they left, and find out what we need to do to change their perceptions, and that was beyond what I thought was legal and ethical to do," Holmes said.
He said that he and other members of his unit never carried out the orders. Instead, Holmes said, he complained to an Army lawyer, who agreed with his opinion.
John Pike, a military analyst and director of GlobalSecurity.org, was quoted in the Rolling Stone article. Pike told The Fayetteville Observer on Wednesday that the story makes the Army look bad.
"Just because your government affairs message needs to be coordinated with your information operations doesn't mean the same people need to be doing it," Pike said. "It just doesn't look good. It will unavoidably create precisely the type of political reaction it created."
Pike said that he doesn't think anyone should be fired and that reaction to the story will be negligible.
Michael O'Hanlon, a national security and defense policy expert with the Brookings Institution in Washington, said the Rolling Stone story included no compelling information.
"Gen. Caldwell is an extremely honest and upright officer, and I've had many candid discussions with him about what's going well and not so well in Afghanistan, and he was always straight with me," O'Hanlon said in an e-mail.
Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Afghanistan, has ordered an investigation.
An Army Central Command spokesman said an investigative officer will be appointed. The investigation will be conducted by the International Security Assistance Force, the coalition of nations involved in the Afghanistan war.
"We don't know how long it will take," said Lt. Col. Mike Lawhorn, an Army Central Command spokesman. "Obviously, it will have to balance the needs to meet the requirements for a full and thorough investigation and be done as quickly as possible while accomplishing that."
Retaliation claim
Holmes, 45, says leaders retaliated against him by opening an investigation - called an AR 15-6 - days after he complained to the Army lawyer. Holmes faced allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, that he spent too much time on Facebook, that he improperly wore civilian clothes off base and that he consumed alcohol.
Holmes said he was cleared of everything except wearing civilian clothes off base. He said he had permission to do so from a colonel and didn't know he needed a general's permission.
"They wanted to find something to hang us with," he said.
Holmes was sent home from Afghanistan a month early and received a letter of reprimand.
Holmes went through ROTC at the University of Texas and enlisted in the National Guard. He was commissioned as an infantry platoon leader in 1987. In 2001, he was a stock broker. He said he started working in intelligence because the National Guard's intelligence unit was closer to home than its infantry.
He deployed to Kosovo in 2004 as a targeting officer. In 2005, after being home for five weeks, he deployed to Iraq. Since 2006, he has worked as a contract employee at the Army Intelligence Center.
He deployed to Afghanistan in November 2009.
He is now president at SyzygyLogos LLC, a strategic communications firm.
His position in the National Guard made it easier for him to complain to leaders, he said, because he had a job to go home to. Other Army officers may fear risking their careers if they stand up to orders they consider unethical or illegal, he said.
Holmes said he hopes two things come from his case. First, he hopes the investigation leads to his record being cleared. Second, he wants the Army to change a culture that he says allows commanders to use the threat of investigations and reprimands to intimidate subordinates.
"I know that happens all the time," he said. "And when it happened to me, I wasn't going to stand for it."
© Copyright 2011, The Fayetteville Observer
