Agribusiness needs to use "attack technologies" against activists, according to Nick Nichols of the PR/crisis management firm Nichols-Dezenhall. Speaking to the annual business meeting of the National Pork Producers Council, Nichols quoted gangster Al Capone, who said: "You can get more with kind words and a smile and a gun than you get with kind words and a smile." (PR Watch has obtained a copy of Nichols' Powerpoint presentation to the pork producers.

"The Korean War veteran stares out from the television screen, an American flag waving behind him. 'Environmentalists are telling us how to live our lives ... preventing us from driving cars, and forcing us to live downtown,' he says. 'In America, these are still personal choices. Tyranny didn't win in South Korea,' he concludes. 'Don't let it get a foothold here.' The message, brought to you by the Georgia Highway Contractors Association, began airing on metro Atlanta television stations last week. Similar messages have been airing for months across the country..."

A group called "Military Information Services" is offering its skills in "psychological warfare" to corporations and governments. A unit of MIS called "Behavior Modification Operations" calls itself "a unique international corporate advisory company ready to fulfill your specific behavior modification requirements in support of organizational objectives in unstable areas and nations of the world. BMO is staffed by psychological warfare and military operations professionals who specialize in developing regions of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America. ...