They advise militaries to infiltrate youth groups, student groups, labor unions, political parties, and community organizations. Indications that insurgents are conducting psychological operations include accusations of government corruption, circulating petitions, attempts to discredit the government or armed forces, calling government leaders US puppets, urging youth to avoid the draft, demonstrations or strikes, or accusations of police or army brutality. With no mention of the propriety of the practices, a number of the manuals advocate controlling information through censorship as well as by spying on and infiltrating civilian groups. In general, the population is a source of information at best, an enemy force at worst. Indeed, there is little discussion of the proper relationship between a civilian government and military authorities.
Much more effort is put into the role of the army in quashing revolutionary tendencies.
Several of the manuals teach militaries and intelligence services how insurgencies develop and how to control them. The description of the former is generally simplistic and dated, with few references to the role official repression plays in fueling insurrection. Insurgents are reduced to manipulators of popular discontent, in thrall to Soviet style Marxism. There is no limitation on when to use military and counterintelligence methods. The two recently declassified CIA manuals make even more chilling reading.