everyone in the psy-ops community knows you re not supposed to target americans, says one veteran of the psy-ops team. it s what you learn on day one. joining me now in his first television interview since his article became public, michael hastings of rolling stone. thanks for joining us tonight, michael. thanks for having me, lawrence. it s an honor to be here. michael, they didn t limit their targets to members of congress, according to your reporting. they actually targeted psychological operations on admiral mike mullen of the joint chiefs of staff. how s that news being received in the pentagon today? i get a sense they re talking about it in the pentagon. but this was an information operation segment specialized in psychological operations as well as military deception. and they originally were on a mission to what they were there to do was to actually train and influence afghans and the taliban. that s what they were supposed to do.
troops and funding for the war in afghanistan. so says the first sentence in a rolling stone article released today. the expose reveals the orders came from the office of lieutenant general william caldwell, who is in charge of training afghan troops. the article says general caldwell wanted to use the unit s psychological expertise to convince members of congress to send more troops to afghanistan. general caldwell s chief of staff is quoted as asking, how do we get these guys to give us more people? what do i have to plant inside their heads? the list of psychological targets included senators john mccain, senator joe lieberman, jack reid, senator carl levin, and al franken. federal law prohibits the military from practicing psy-ops on americans. everyone in the psy-ops community knows you re not
do we get these guys to give us more people? what do i have to plant inside their heads? the list of psychological targets included senators john mccain, senator joe lieberman, jack reid, senator carl levin, and al franken. federal law prohibits the military from practicing psy-ops on americans. everyone in the psy-ops community knows you re not supposed to target americans, says one veteran of the psy-ops team. it s what you learn on day one. joining me now in his first television interview since his article became public, michael hastings of rolling stone. thanks for joining us tonight, michael. thanks for having me, lawrence. it s an honor to be here. michael, they didn t limit their targets to members of congress, according to your reporting. they actually targeted psychological operations on admiral mike mullen of the joint