Awareness-The Smith Mundt Act

Smith Mundt Act of 1948

The United States Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, known as the Smith-Mundt Act can specify the terms in which the U.S. government can engage in public diplomacy through prohibiting domestic distribution of information intended for foreign audiences. This act gained support due to the fear some people held exchanging a free flow of information was contributing to the outbreak of wars. After World War I, Americans used the precedent of the United States involvement in WWI and WWII as their reasoning. The official reasoning rooted in the belief this act would strengthen cooperative international relations, by the ease attitude shared amongst America's people. How did this happen? Two key cases in history served as stepping-stones for the Act that restricted American viewership. The first being President Wilson's Committee on Public Information which was America's first official government propaganda program. The second was Truman's Campaign of Truth programs designed to combat Soviet propaganda; this Act was developed to regulate broadcasting programs for international audiences made only under the guidance by the State Department. This Act implied programs like Voice of America was not allowed to share their programs intended for audiences outside America, to be spread within the states. 

During this time, all American agencies and organizations were able to withhold the information, missions, and materials they would show to foreign audiences. 

Smith-Mundt Modernization Act

The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, inspired by Representatives Thornberry and Smith was an amendment to the previous Act of 1948. Under this amendment, people could view what other countries had to say about America and spread it as they wished. Dissemination was allowed to operate on all levels, except the federal government, as they were able to be transparent with content they produced for their foreign audiences. Authorized parties included the Secretary of State and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) who committed to sharing all information the U.S. would produced for foreign audiences. This also lifted all prior restrictions that prevented Americans from getting news from "outside" sources like Radio Free Europe. It's important to note there were three provisions of this amendment. The first dealt with allowing authorized parties to disseminate information about its internal policies and operations. The second prohibited the Department from altering material only if they assumed American audiences would see the content. The third stated this amendment only applied to the Department and the BBG; any federal department or subsequent agency was not required to adhere to this amendment. 

My Thoughts

Operation Mockingbird operated on the principle of federal agencies being allowed to do whatever they want, without the American public knowing. In this operation, that goes as far back as the Cold War, the CIA purposefully put agents to pose as people in the media to control what information that went out to the public. My fear is that because federal agencies do not have to adhere to the Smith-Mundt Modernization Amendment (they're not forced to share information they produced or missions overseas) these undermining things could still happen. The risk of a breach in national security takes priority over transparency to the public. The implications are that at the end of the day, the media controls all propaganda we view; it's that content which fill our heads, are our topics of conversation, and shapes our view of perception. The good: the public remains calm in times of crisis; if we all knew what really was going on mayhem would break out. The bad: we don't know the truth and what we're made to believe or what what actually do believe. The media's ability to control our perception, and further who we are, is an insane amount of power that no person, organization, or otherly being should have.