TODD LEVENTHAL MINISTER OF DISINFORMATION
Posted originally at Citizens for Truth about Kennedy Assassination (CTKA) web site: http://www.ctka.net/2010/Levanthal.html
By William Kelly
During the Cold War and the hot wars that followed, "disinformation" was the buzz word for the false and deceptive information surreptitiously promoted by communist and foreign intelligence services.
Promoting disinformation wasn't something that the United States itself did, at least it wasn't something they wanted anyone to believe they did, as it was discussed by John Barron and others who studied and wrote about the propaganda put out by the Soviets' official Ministry of Dizinformation.
That the United States doesn't engage in such psychological warfare is an urban myth quickly dispelled by Todd Leventhal, America's Minister of Disinformation, whose official title is State Department Counter-Mis and Disinformation Officer. As such Leventhal has been the subject of a spate of recent publicity, especially in regards to debunking conspiracy theories.
We've heard from Leventhal before, pushing the Bush foreign agenda, disputing reports that Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq was a false pretense for war, and more recently as the State Department's spokesman designated to officially debunk conspiracy theories that the federal government considers serious threats--like UFOs, faked moon landings, 9/11 missiles and President Obama's birth certificate.
Leventhal's official blog on debunking such "conspiracy theories" serves as fodder for legitimate journalists looking for a good column when news is slow, but most real conspiracy theorists considered him just another media spokesperson for the government, not unlike those who speak for the al Quada and the Taliban, and trusted as much.
But Leventhal recently created a mini-firestorm when some mainstream publications began commenting on his inclusion of the assassination of President Kennedy among the "conspiracy theories" worth debunking, and his ridicule of those who believe anyone other than Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for the murder of Kennedy.
As the official State Department specialist and spokesperson whose job is to counter-misinformation and disinformation, Leventhal's blog (since suspended but archived under Rumors, Myths and Fabrications1) touches on a number of controversial subjects, including AIDS, the moon landing and the war in Iraq, but the subject of the Kennedy assassination seems to have struck the most sensitive nerve.
THE MIS & THE DISINFORMED
On Leventhal's official State Department web site, under the banner of "Countering Misinformation," it is noted that, "The purpose of this webpage is to counter misinformation," which is defined in parenthesis as "unintentional mistakes." Their mission is also to counter "conspiracy theories, urban legends, and disinformation," which also rates the definition of "deliberate falsehoods and distortions."
Originally disinformation, as explained by John Barron2, was defined as not only "deliberate falsehoods and distortions," but contained the caveat that the deliberate falsehoods and distortions were the product of a foreign intelligence network.
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