Tom Vanden Brook

Tom Vanden Brookis ajournalistwho has worked forUSA Todaysince 2000. Vanden Brook took his undergraduate degree in history and a master's degree in journalism at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison.Prior toUSA Today,he worked as a reporter atThe Milwaukee JournalandThe Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.He has covered theDepartment of Defensefor the newspaper since April 2006.

Vanden Brook has attracted attention after reporting on Pentagoninformation operationsprograms run by private contractors. His reporting claimed that the efficacy of the programs in Afghanistan and Iraq, that have cost hundreds of millions of dollars, has not been ascertained. His reporting also is critical of the Pentagon's use of private contractors such as Leonie Industries in lieu of trained military personnel.

Reputation attack

Vanden Brook became part of an apparent disinformation campaign that aimed to besmirch his professional reputation linked to his reporting on the Pentagon's information operations programs.According to a story by Gregory Korte inUSA Today,Vanden Brook andRay Lockerwere the targets of an "information operations" campaign in which websites based on their names were registered andFacebookandTwitteraccounts were created using their names without their permission. In addition, aWikipediaentry allegedly was created as part of the campaign to create and manipulate an information profile on the Internet. These actions occurred simultaneously with their reporting on the vast cost-overruns at the Pentagon's "information operations" programs in Afghanistan and Iraq. If the activities were by the Pentagon or its contractors and used federal funds, the perpetrators would have violated federal law prohibiting the creation of propaganda targeting a domestic audience. The Pentagon denied having any knowledge of the activities and said that its information operations contractors also denied targeting Vanden Brook and Locker.In May 2012, Camille Chidiac, minority owner and former president of the Pentagon's top propaganda contractorLeonie Industries,accepted personal responsibility for the operation.Leonie Industries insisted that any public roles played recently by Chidiac on behalf of the company were purely informal.The Department of Defense distanced itself explicitly from the smear campaign.In October 2012, four months after the Pentagon renewed its contract with Leonie Industries, its Investigator General announced a criminal investigation into the company due to the incident.

Fake websites

Fake websites, including sites domains using the journalists' names and aWord Press site for Vanden Brookwere created by unknown parties. Vanden Brook was the first target of the apparent "reputation attack" (as Andy Beal, the chief executive of social media monitoring firm Trackur, labeled it), followed by Locker after his byline was added to the articles on the Pentagon's information operations program. As part of the campaign, their reporting was added to the sites, as well as such information as a bio on Vanden Berg from theMichael Kelly Awardweb site, but more insidious postings such as accusing them of being agents of the Taliban also were added. The sites subsequently were taken offline after the journalists made inquiries.

Wikipedia entry

According toUSA Today,a new user to Wikipedia created a page on Vanden Brook on February 8, 2012. The entry alleged that Vanden Brook "'gained worldwide notoriety' for his 'misreporting' of the 2006Sago Mine disasterin West Virginia. "Wikipedia editors removed the page and banned the user.

Twitter accounts

As part of spreading misinformation, such as legitimating criticism of Vanden Brook's reporting, a bogus @Tomvandenbrook Twitter account defended his reporting of the Sago Mine disaster to another allegedly fake Twitter account.

Awards and recognition

Vanden Brook was nominated for aMichael Kelly Awardin 2008 and 2012.

External links

• AppearancesonC-SPAN
• Reporter Story Index: Tom Vanden Brook,USA Today