Targeting and Information Operations
The Directorate of Targeting and Information Operations (DTIO) is a group within the British Ministry of Defence which is involved in the Information Operations of the UK.
Contents
Activities
Information Operations
Air Vice Marshall Mike Heath who was head of the DTIO during Operation Telic (The British Military's name for the 2003 invasion of Iraq) describes Information Operations thus:
- The concept of Information Operations for the military is to garner cross government activity, not just military activity, to contribute towards influence and persuasion. I like to think of it as a continuum, that if you get it right it starts during pre war fighting where you are looking towards dissuasion and coercion; it continues into military operations; and, of course, it then wraps up and it is just as essential that you carry it through into post conflict restoration and reconstitution [1]
Information Operations should be understood as a crossgovernmental practice, for example the information campaign in Operation Telic was lead from the Cabinet Office, with the involvement of the Foreign Office, Home Office and Department for International Development.[2] The DTIO "provides strategic guidance on targeting and the cross-government information campaign, as well as advice to Ministers and the Chiefs of Staff" [3] and works on Information Operations with the Director General, Operational Policy - to form a mutually supporting role in the influence campaign with other groups involved in Media Operations.
Psychological Operations
Psychological Operations (Psyops) are "the tactical end of the strategic information operations whole"[4] and is seen as specifically military in nature as "it is specifically targeted by military means into target audiences" [5]. In the UK Psyops capability is provided by 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group who, in Iraq, were involved in actions such as setting up a coalition sponsored radio station in Basra - Radio Nahrain.[6]
Staff
In 2004 the the DTIO had a staff of 98, including "a psychiatrist, an anthropologist, and other specialist staff", it also also "has contacts with a variety of experts in the United Kingdom in universities and other institutions"[7]
Affiliations
- Has used the American Information Operations firm the Rendon Group "to provide advice on information campaigns" - at least between 1999 and 2004 [8]
