How The U.S. military plans to hijack and control local AM & FM radio stations
The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), the organization that oversees America’s elite special forces, is quietly searching for equipment that will effectively give it control over every FM and AM radio station in an area. The short, innocuous-sounding announcement on the Federal Business Opportunities site states that SOCOM seeks vendors to provide “a radio broadcast system capable of searching for and acquiring every AM and FM radio station in a specific area and then broadcasting a message(s) in the target area on all acquired AM and FM radio station frequencies.” SOCOM wants equipment that is both lightweight and sophisticated enough to detect and broadcast over multiple frequencies simultaneously. And SOCOM wants it fast.
The equipment must be at least Technology Readiness Level 8, a Pentagon measure of technological maturity that means that it is fully developed, tested and ready for use.
“It appears that SOCOM is looking to purchase a preferably commercial off the shelf friendly-foreign or domestic advanced form of Software-Defined Radio (SDR) as a solution for their tactical and theater Psyops or MISO missions,” says a military expert who asked to remain anonymous. “The exact platform – whether it’s ground-based or airborne – cannot be determined from the solicitation.
It would appear to be an urgent request because of the TRL 8 or above stipulation. ”
This is what the Pentagon now calls Military Information Support Operations, or MISO. This is a far less sinister name for what the rest of us call Psychological Operations, or Psyops. that subtle form of warfare that uses carefully tailored information – truthful or not – to change foreign hearts and minds in a way that furthers U.S. interests.
“MISO units have the mission to broadcast information and messages to neutral, hostile and, in certain cases, friendly audiences,” says Bryan Karabaich, a former Special Forces colonel and a consultant to the U.S. government on information operations. “Obviously, to do that, one needs to know where on the broadcast spectrum people are listening and what is being said.”
An automated, software-based system that could scan and transmit over multiple frequencies would save time and manpower. But there is another benefit as well, and that is electronic warfare. If U.S. forces are transmitting messages over local radio frequencies, then local stations can’t broadcast their messages. And if this happens to every station in an area, then the target government’s ability to communicate with its people, such as exhorting them to fight the Americans, would be muzzled.
“This system could be used to jam a frequency,” says Cohen. “During a conflict, an enemy radio station would not be able to broadcast their message at the same time. The FABS capability is required to meet combatant commanders’ need to shape foreign attitude and behavior in support of U.S. regional objectives, policies, interests, and theater military missions.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck/2013/09/17/how-the-u-s-military-plans-to-hijack-the-airwaves/
The U.S. Army's cyberspace operations concept capability plan 2016-2028
http://www.slideshare.net/CristoPanevino/army-cyberspace-operations-concept-capability-plan-2016-2028