Evidence of sockpuppetry?

The article I wrote about Operation Earnest Voice for The Guardian (published this morning) has proved to be very popular, with around 600 comments left on the paper's website by readers. Some of the comments make fascinating reading, but should I be worried by what reader 'pretzelberg' has found? S/he noticed the following five comments:

icurahuman2
'Nothing new here, the Israelis have been doing it for years'

bigishwilly
'nothing new here - israel have been at this for years'

Moonfish
'Nothing new here. The Israelis have also been doing this for ages.'

Simon1Brum
'Israel has been at it for years'

buddha9
'As do the Israeli's who have been doing it for a couple of years'


Is someone trying to take the piss?

More on Operation Earnest Voice...

More on Operation Earnest Voice, the US CENTCOM programme to develop 'sockpuppet' fake personas to infiltrate pro-jihadi websites. I've co-written an article for The Guardian, which you can find here.

Operation Earnest Voice Part III

More on Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), the US Army's top secret psyops initiative aimed at the manipulation of social media through the use of fake online personas. This $200 million CENTCOM programme was first developed for use in Iraq and is now said to be targeted at countering Taliban propaganda in Afghanistan.
The theory behind the programme is that a single individual can control large numbers of online personas from a single computer screen, presumably to influence the activities of targeted individuals. It goes without saying that the use of this kind of software by the US army against US citizens would be illegal.
Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee in March last year, General David H Petraeus said OEV "is the critical program of record that resources our efforts to synchronize our Information Operations activities, to counter extremist ideology and propaganda, and to ensure that credible voices in the region are heard.  OEV provides CENTCOM with direct communication capabilities to reach regional audiences through traditional media as well as via websites and regional public affairs blogging. In each of these efforts, we follow the admonition we practiced in Iraq, that of trying to be “first with the truth.”"  
One can imagine how easy it would be to influence events via Twitter, for example, where people tend to follow particular hashtags. Astute tweeting on a popular hashtag by a lot of personas acting in unison could easily be used to divert people away from what was really happening. The same applies to Facebook, chatrooms and other social media venues. Stephen C Webster at the Raw Story has done an excellent job of explaining the way in which contracts were let for Operation Earnest Voice and the people involved. 
Already I have mentioned that Neal Harper of Mission Communications claims to have developed the strategy behind OEV. Now another name has surfaced. Joseph Cook is a Japanese-American telecommunications specialist who since the beginning of this month works for the US government's Defense Information Systems Agency. For three years prior to that he worked at USCENTCOM where he helped to run 17 counter-terrorism and stability operations. He lists his notable achievements on LinkedIn  as managing development communication plans such as Operation Earnest Voice.
More information welcome.

The man behind Operation Earnest Voice

More on Operation Earnest Voice, the US Army's strategic communication and information operation, aimed at disrupting online jihadi activity. According to his entry on LinkedIn, Neal Harper of Mission Communications, based in Florida, is responsible for developing the strategy, which he says is a "$200 million+ program of record".
Harper is a US Navy Reserve officer who has been a consultant to CENTCOM for the last seven years, working with the J3 (0perations) Directorate. He calls himself a Strategic Effects Planner.
Between December 2008 and February 2010 he was commanding officer of NR NAVCENT MAST B, "an expeditionary communications detachment of NAVCENT." He studied at the University of Phoenix where he obtained an MBA in Global Management in 2006, although his first degree came from James Madison University back in 1982. From 2007-8 he studied at the Naval War College.

Operation Earnest Voice - online engagement

In written testimony to the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Gen. James N Mattis, commander of US Central Command, spoke about the unseen work of the military in countering radical Islamist propaganda. In particular he spoke about Operation Earnest Voice, for which the Pentagon requested $45 million last year, to go towards "products to counter radical ideology and influence key audiences across the region via internet or other mediums".
The programme is said to provide the capability to engage its target audiences in both Arabic and Urdu weblogs, chat rooms and social networks.
This is what Mattis wrote in his submission to the committee: "CENTCOM Activities in the Information Environment: Consistent with the guidance provided by Secretary Gates last December, we conduct Operation Earnest Voice (OEV), which synchronizes and oversees all of our Information Operations activities. OEV seeks to disrupt recruitment and training of suicide bombers; deny safe havens for our adversaries; and counter extremist ideology and propaganda. Full funding of OEV supports all activities associated with degrading the enemy narrative, including web engagement and web-based product distribution capabilities. The effective engagement of our enemies in cyberspace requires the ability for us to conduct a full-spectrum of traditional military activities against them in that domain, including all aspects of Information Operations and Strategic Communication. We coordinate with the Joint Staff, the Interagency, the Intelligence Community, and our coalition partners to examine the adversary’s use of cyberspace and identify techniques, tactics and procedures we can use to counter the adversary in the cyber domain."
Anyone have any more information on this programme?

Some information can be found on the website of the Association of Old Crows (AOC) - I kid you not! Based just outside Washington, this professional association claims over 13,500 members and 180 + member organisations engaged in the science and practice of Electronic Warfare, information operations and related disciplines. It produces the Journal of Electronic Defense for its members and holds regular conferences and debates.