USA Today Alleges Retaliation for Pentagon Propaganda Investigation

USA Today alleges two staff members who reported on the Pentagon’s extensive propaganda campaigns have been facing a retaliatory propaganda campaign of their own. The paper says fake web addresses, Twitter and Facebook accounts were set up in the names of editor Ray Locker and reporter Tom Vanden Brook, whose bylines appeared on stories about the military’s so-called information operations program. According to USA Today, the program spent hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan that have largely been found ineffective. Locker called the fake accounts “a clear attempt at intimidation that has failed.” A Pentagon spokesman denied any involvement.