A procurement document shows that the United States Special Operations Command is looking for companies to help it create deepfake internet users that would be undetectable by humans and computers.
A Joint Special Operations Command wishlist obtained by The Intercept says, “Special Operations Forces (SOF) are interested in technologies that can generate convincing online personas for use on social media platforms, social networking sites, and other online content.” The wishlist adds, “The solution should include facial & background imagery, facial & background video, and audio layers.”
The Joint Special Operations Command document notes that the Pentagon wants to be capable of creating online profiles that “appear to be a unique individual that is recognizable as human but does not exist in the real world.” The wishlist noted that each profile would include “multiple expressions,” “Government Identification quality photos,” and would include a generated “selfie video” of the fake profile.
According to the Joint Special Operations Command document, the deepfake technology would “create a virtual environment undetectable by social media algorithms.”
The Special Operations Command wishlist indicates that Special Operations Forces would “use this capability to gather information from public online forums.”
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According to The Intercept, Special Operations Command previously showed interest last year in using video “deepfakes” for “influence operations, digital deception, communication disruption, and disinformation campaigns.” The outlet noted that the deepfakes could be generated by using software that can both recognize and recreate human features utilizing a large database of information.
Last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that “synthetic media, such as deepfakes, present a growing challenge for all users of modern technology and communications.” The U.S. intelligence agencies also warned that the widespread use of deepfake technology was a “top risk.”
Daniel Byman, a member of the State Department’s International Security Advisory Board, warned that by using technology that the U.S. government has warned against and which could deceive the American public, “there is a legitimate concern that the U.S. will be seen as hypocritical.” Byman added, “I’m also concerned about the impact on domestic trust in government — will segments of the U.S. people, in general, become more suspicious of information from the government?”
