Lawrence DiRita, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said the aim was to "provide factual, truthful information with some degree of transparency, whatever is appropriate."

He would not say specifically whether the psychological warfare experts charged with running the program have been authorized to place messages in foreign media without disclosing the US government as their source.

However, USA Today quoted the deputy director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element as saying the source of the material would not always be identified.

"While the product may not carry the label, Made in the USA,' we will respond truthfully if asked" by journalists, Mark Furlong was quoted as saying.

The campaign will target television, radio, newspapers, Internet websites with articles, advertisements and public service announcements, he said.

The latest disclosure comes amid an ongoing investigation of a military "information operations" campaign in Iraq that reportedly planted hundreds of favorable paid-for stories in Iraqi news media without disclosing their source.

The Lincoln Group, a defense contractor that was used to place the stories, is one of three contractors hired by the US Special Operations Command for the broader international campaign.

The Lincoln Group, Science Applications International Corp. and SyColeman were each awarded 100 million dollar contracts in June for the campaign.

The five-year contract was "for media approach planning, prototype product development, commercial quality product development, product distribution and dissemination, and media effects analysis for the Joint Psychological Operations Support element and other government agencies," an announcement at the time said.

DiRita said the US Special Operations Command has been granted authority to wage the campaign but was still planning how to carry it out, he said.

"We're in an environment where public information is being thrown out there in countries all around the world that say untruthful, inaccurate, harmful things about the United States, about the global war on terror," DiRita said.

"It is important we counter that, and we have to counter it truthfully, to some significant degree to counter it with transparency, and we are looking at all kinds of ways to do that," he said.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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