Discerning Through the Noise

Media Influence and Information Manipulation in Current Events and Politics

The following is a speech and presentation given at Ave Maria Law School, April 10, 2025

On December 8, 1987, while addressing Cold War negotiations between United States and the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan stated:

“We are learning to talk openly. But, as we say: trust, but verify.”

In my experience—over sixteen years of combined service in the U.S. military and in the press—President Reagan was far too generous.

After years in the game of information, my mantra is this: Never trust. Always verify.

(Video: “Ghosts in the Machine”, 4th PSYOP Group)

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen—students and distinguished faculty members of Ave Maria Law School.

My name is Bree Dail. I’m a veteran U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Officer and investigative journalist for The Daily Wire. Until recently, I served as the Rome correspondent for The Daily Wire, reporting from the Vatican. I continue to hold accreditation at the Holy See and serve The Daily Wire as its Vaticanist while also reporting on what has already been quite an dynamic news cycle.

If you’ve followed my work—or have come across it on social media over the years—you may not be surprised by the topic of this speech today.

For others among you, it would be entirely reasonable to ask:

What connection could psychological warfare—or PSYWAR—and psychological operations—PSYOPS—possibly have, not just within the confines of the Vatican or even the wider Catholic Church… but how on earth does this topic impact you?

Let’s take a look at just a few Catholic-centric headlines from the last few years:

I want to make it clear from the outset: this speech is not intended to be one-sided, nor should my voice be the dominant one throughout.

While I am a subject matter expert in this field, our society today is increasingly shaped by audiovisual media—and as I’ve already said, never trust, always verify.

You need to hear and see the experts—some from decades ago—who warned of the active measures being taken against the West.

You need to see how these operations—meticulously designed, often unfolding over generations—have come to dominate our political discourse and even penetrate our judicial systems.

In other words, if you’ve noticed a pattern in the machine of mass media and influence, you’re not imagining things.

As we saw in the opening video, there ARE ghosts in the machine, and most of them are insidious.

And if you haven’t been paying close attention—and that may be more than a few of you today—or if you’ve felt overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of this war of influence…

…my hope is that by the end of our time together, you’ll walk away with a few more tools to recognize, resist, and navigate it.

To begin, I want to introduce you to a man who defected from the Soviet Union—a former KGB Intelligence Officer named Yuri Bezmenov.

In the 1980s, Bezmenov gave a series of interviews in the West, warning not just of Soviet espionage, but of something far more subtle and corrosive: ideological subversion—what the Russians called “active measures.”

He claimed that these psychological operations were designed not to destroy America militarily, but to demoralize it—to cause a nation to collapse from within, by attacking its values, institutions, and collective trust in truth.

What you're about to hear was recorded over forty years ago. And yet, it may feel like he’s observing current events:

Chilling, no?

But let’s be clear: these tactics didn’t originate with the KGB. Before Soviet intelligence perfected their psychological operations, Joseph Goebbels—the Minister of Propaganda under the Nazi regime—was already mastering the dark art of information warfare.

He famously said:

“A lie once is a lie. A lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”

This principle—repetition as a tool of manipulation—is foundational to modern disinformation campaigns. It’s not just about what is said, but how often it’s said, how widely it’s echoed, and who is saying it.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, how this principle has been repeated—across regimes, ideologies, and decades.

But it’s not just about subversion. As Bezmenov made clear, if you want to control a population—if your goal is true ideological capture—you must go further.

You must demoralize.

You must destabilize.

And you must do this in layers, over time, until the very foundations of a society—its faith, its institutions, its trust in reality itself—begin to crack.

The disinformation can’t stop. It must be repeated, until the lie no longer feels like a lie.

From this erosion, you create the perfect conditions for crisis—and that’s when manipulation becomes most effective.

One need only glance at Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals to see this strategy laid out explicitly—or listen to modern echoes in the University of Chicago of the Franfurt School…or in the voices of Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

But how, exactly, do we get to a crisis from repeating a lie? What does demoralization truly mean in this context?

In his book Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism, author Ion Mihai Pacepa dove into the emotional manipulation that lies at the core of disinformation campaigns.

He explains how Soviet intelligence services—and by extension, others who have followed their playbook—used disinformation not just to deceive, but to manipulate emotions.

By exploiting fear, hatred, and resentment, these campaigns created rifts and deepened divisions within societies. For example, the KGB planted agents in the Islamic world to fan the flames of ancient Arab resentments against the United States and Israel.

This sowed seeds of anti-Semitism that would later erupt in violence and terror, targeting not just Jews, but Christians as well.

Does this sound familiar?

Have you seen this on campuses?

On social media?

Have influencers promoted such rhetoric on their platforms, even going so far as to validate it with shouts of “Christ is King”?

What’s even more insidious is the ability of disinformation to turn reality on its head. The innocent are framed as guilty, while the guilty are glorified. This emotional manipulation—the kind that twists perceptions of right and wrong—becomes the bedrock upon which societal crises are built.

Pacepa argues in his book that the most effective disinformation campaigns are those that don’t just tell a lie, but deeply embed it within elements of truth, and in the emotions of the people. And when the mainstream media—intentionally or unintentionally—amplifies these distorted narratives, the lie doesn’t just spread. It becomes believed.

This is how disinformation accelerates the destabilization of societies. Through constant repetition, manipulation of emotions, and the endorsement of these lies by influential voices—whether in media, government, or even international organizations—you create the perfect environment for crisis.

It’s no longer just about ideological subversion; it becomes about shaping the emotional landscape of an entire population, until they can no longer trust what they see, hear, or feel. And when a society is emotionally fragmented, destabilized by mistrust, and demoralized, the very fabric of its unity is torn. From there, the crisis is just a matter of time.

Does this sound familiar to you, in the scope of the recent pandemic?

The disinformation, the emotional manipulation, the shifting of realities—doesn’t this ring true with what we’ve seen unfold before our eyes in the past few years?

In a time when the world was thrown into uncertainty, fear became the weapon of choice. From lockdowns to mandates, every decision was framed through a lens of panic. And the media played its part, amplifying this fear, often without scrutiny, and shaping public perception.

Aside from the clear emotional and psychological exhaustion as a result of all this, is it any surprise that the acceleration of “Gender Ideology”, especially within the TikTok generation of homebound, isolated adolescents, exploded onto the scene during lockdowns?

TikTok has been proven to be a tool of the CCP to push disinformation, deep fakes and ideological subversion. (See bipartisan investigations by Cotton/Schumer)

Now, let’s add to this technology, the “deepfake” AI generation that Agencies have had access to well before this 2016 video was posted.

Yet in the midst of all this emotional manipulation, did you perhaps notice something else—counter-narratives emerging, inflammatory rhetoric from the polar opposite end of the spectrum?

Again, here’s Catholic “Trad” influencers…who reported without corroboration. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano is a common name in conservative circles, but why when he (and his media promoters) have been discredited in their claims numerous times? Appealing to emotion? Confirmation Bias?

So, clearly, this isn’t ideologically one-sided, but what is the endgame? Politicians and activists have utilized these tactics for years, but what bridges the gap between activism and action?

Laws.

Let’s take a closer look at some concrete examples of laws enacted in recent years that give governments authority to control narratives and regulate disinformation:

United Kingdom:

1. The Online Safety Act (October 2023): This legislation requires social media platforms to take responsibility for harmful content posted by users. Prosecutors must demonstrate the harmful effects of online content before pursuing legal action. The Act lays out a framework for regulating online speech and holds platforms accountable for harmful content.

2. Disinformation Definition: The law does not explicitly define disinformation, but it addresses content that could cause harm, including false information.

3. Who Decides: Regulatory bodies and courts are empowered to decide what constitutes harmful content, with legal cases and judicial processes determining whether content qualifies as disinformation.

4. Arrests for Online Hate Speech (August 2024): In August 2024, two individuals were arrested for spreading false and inflammatory content on social media during civil unrest. Tyler Kay and Jordan Parlour were sentenced to prison for inciting racial hatred and spreading false information.

5. Consequences: Tyler Kay received a 38-month sentence, and Jordan Parlour was sentenced to 20 months.

Germany

1. Coordinated Raids on Online Hate Speech (February 2025): In February 2025, German authorities conducted coordinated raids across the country, targeting individuals suspected of posting content deemed as "hate speech" online.

2. Consequences: Individuals found guilty may face criminal charges, and authorities may confiscate electronic devices as part of their investigation.

3. Disinformation Definition: The law targets unlawful content, including false or harmful information, but does not define disinformation specifically.

4. Who Decides: German authorities, in collaboration with social media platforms, monitor content for violations of the law, with the Federal Office of Justice overseeing compliance

Could this happen in the United States?

It has come close.

Remember this from (Former) Director of the DHS Disinformation Governance Board, Nina Jankowicz.

In the United States, the response to misinformation escalated, in relation to COVID-19, where the government took an active role in addressing what it deemed to be harmful or false content.

One notable instance was when the FBI investigated individuals spreading disinformation about the virus, vaccines, and public health measures. During 2020 and 2021, these investigations often involved visits to individuals who had posted misleading information about COVID-19 on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The posts were not necessarily illegal but were deemed potentially harmful to public health. These investigations were conducted under existing federal laws, such as 18 U.S.C. § 1001, which penalizes making false statements to the government, and 18 U.S.C. § 2314, relating to fraud involving the transportation of goods across state lines.

In addition to federal investigations, there were also FBI visits to social media influencers who had posted false claims about vaccines. In 2021, the Biden administration stepped up efforts to combat COVID-19 misinformation, and influencers were often contacted by the FBI or other government agencies, warning them of the potential consequences of spreading harmful information. These visits were a part of the broader effort to limit disinformation during a public health crisis and came with no formal charges in many cases, but often resulted in the removal of posts or accounts from social media platforms.

Local law enforcement also played a role in investigating "anti-vaccine" content on social media. Police departments in multiple states responded to complaints about individuals or groups posting misinformation that could incite violence or discourage vaccination efforts. For example, individuals spreading conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine were sometimes questioned by local authorities, who referred to public health and safety laws in investigating these actions. Some of these investigations were framed as efforts to protect public safety, but the question remained: at what point does the line between misinformation and free speech blur, and who decides where that line is?

The negative rights of free speech and press seem clear. “Congress shall make no law…”

While none of these cases may have led to significant criminal charges, the fact remains that authorities in the U.S. were increasingly vigilant about content they believed could undermine the public's trust in health measures and contribute to societal unrest.

So, if we have activist judges to support political ideologues, and the media—once the weapon of the people—now mostly collaborates with the ideologues…what is to be done?

Aside from assessing how your emotions may be being manipulated to overwhelm your reason in a report, or analyzing the veracity of claims by the evidence, corroboration, integrity and credibility of the reporting…if what we have discussed today suggests how compromised our institutions (and even the citizens) of this Nation have become, how do we recover?

My answer will follow these closing remarks by Yuri Bezmenov:

So, to conclude is not enough for you—Catholic men and women in law and academia—to practice privately, to educate within our communities.

This is a foundation, yes.

But as Christ Jesus admonished his disciples go out into the world, but not be of it…so are we required to hold accountable our leaders; to lend our well-formed, classical education in Ethics and Virtue to civic duties. We are obligated, for to whom much is given, much will be expected. I hope you will all hold me accountable to this, as I continue my work in journalism.

For it is only in a nation rooted in God, and formed in virtue that we will overcome the challenges of today—and meet head on the real challenges of tomorrow.

May God fortify and bless us all, and our great country.