Neoconservative Chronology 2002

February

• 19 New York Times reports on the Office of Strategic Influence's plans for covert propaganda.
• 20 Donald Rumsfeld states that the Office of Strategic Influence will not "knowingly or deliberately disseminate false information to the American or foreign media or publics".
• 25 Donald Rumsfeld say Pentagon officials are debating whether the Office of Strategic Influence "should even exist in its current form" given the controversy it attracted.

November

• Policy Forum on International Security Affairs launched.
• Harry's Place founded.

December

• 13 Iraqi Opposition conference opens at the Hilton Metropole in London.
• 16 New York Times reports that the Department of Defense "is considering issuing a secret directive to the American military to conduct covert operations aimed at influencing public opinion and policy makers in friendly and neutral countries".

"Such a program, for example, could include efforts to discredit and undermine the influence of mosques and religious schools that have become breeding grounds for Islamic militancy and anti-Americanism across the Middle East, Asia and Europe. It might even include setting up schools with secret American financing to teach a moderate Islamic position laced with sympathetic depictions of how the religion is practiced in America, officials said."

• 17 Iraqi opposition conference in London concludes.