Whether Psych Ops or MISO, Still Influence Operations…

Changing names does not change attitudes, nor does it change the characteristics of its holder.

The US Defense Department has dropped the Vietnam-era name "psychological operations" for its branch in charge of trying to change minds behind enemy lines, acknowledging the term can sound "ominous".

Instead, it picked a more neutral name: "Military Information Support Operations," or MISO.

U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw said Thursday the new name, adopted last month, more accurately reflects the unit's job of producing leaflets, radio broadcasts and loudspeaker messages to influence enemy soldiers and civilians.

The name change is expected to extend to all military services, a senior defense official said in Washington. The change was driven from the top, by Pentagon policymakers working for Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

He said the military was giving in to political correctness by changing the name. He said that psychological operations have been cast as spooky in movies and books over the years portraying the soldiers as master manipulators, claiming that the real mission is far more mundane.