Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY

2:53PM EST December 6. 2012 – WASHINGTON —

The military’s Special Operations Command has become an emerging player in the Pentagon’s propaganda efforts to confront violent extremists around the world, according to documents and a new report from a non-partisan think tank.

Special Operations Command, based in Tampa, directs the military’s elite commando units — the Navy’s SEALs and Army’s Delta Force — in counterterrorism missions. SOCOM, as it is known, conducted the operation to kill Osama bin Laden and dealt bloody blows to insurgent groups in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Key to its propaganda efforts is a collection of websites known as the Trans Regional Web Initiative aimed at foreign audiences. USA TODAY first reported on its existence in 2008, and it appears to have expanded.

***.***

The military revoked a Rendon contract in Afghanistan when it was revealed in 2009 that it had profiled reporters seeking to embed with troops and weeded out those whose coverage was deemed negative. In all, Rendon, a marketing expert, has been paid more than $100 million for providing the military with communication advice.

Unlike other regional combatant commands such as the Central Command in the Middle East, SOCOM is not bound by geography. Its mission to combat extremism extends around the globe.

Overall, funding for information operations, which include the military’s propaganda efforts abroad, has fallen from its peak of $580 million in 2009 during the toughest fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan to $202 million last year. Most of the money is spent on propaganda programs in war zones, often broadcasts and leaflets aimed at bolstering support for the Afghan government. A USA TODAY investigation found that the military has had trouble accounting for the funds spent and measuring the effects of its campaigns.

read more here: on USA TODAY:

NOTE BY THE EDITOR: The funds that ‘Special Operations Command’ has at its disposal is only a part of the total $$$ spent on ‘war propaganda’ or ‘political strategic marketing’. Other departments have their own budgets.