美国陆军于9月29日在北卡罗来纳州福特布拉格举行仪式，正式撤销第8心理作战群（空降）。
The Army officially inactivated the 8th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) in a ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on Sept. 29.
“我对今天站在我们面前的男女官兵以及为撤销该单位而曾服役的前辈们感到无比自豪，”该群指挥官罗伯特·库西克上校说。“第8心理作战群提出的新概念将在未来多年继续发挥作用。”第8心理作战群昵称“幻影骑士”，于2013年11月16日正式启用，在此之前已临时运行两年。它是陆军四个心理作战群之一，包括现役的第4心理作战群（空降）以及陆军预备役的第2和第7心理作战群。
“I could not be prouder of the men and women that stand before us today and those that came before us to inactivate the unit,” Col. Robert Cusick, the group’s commanding officer, said. “8th PSYOP Group introduced new concepts that will remain for years to come.” 8th POG, nicknamed the “Phantom Knights,” was formally activated on Nov. 16, 2013, after operating provisionally for two years. It was one of four Army PSYOP groups, including the active-duty 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) and the Army Reserve’s 2nd and 7th Psychological Operations Groups.
“撤销”一词表示该群正在某种重组和重建过程中被无限期停用——不一定意味着它被彻底解除或解散。
The term “inactivation” signifies that the group is being decommissioned for an indeterminate period during some form of restructuring and reorganization — not necessarily that it is being deactivated or dissolved.
第8心理作战群包含第3心理作战营（空降）和第9心理作战营（空降）。第3心理作战营负责全球范围内的印刷、广播和广播信息作战，而第9心理作战营通常参与投放传单和培育当地社区等行动，这些社区可能是特种部队行动的区域。
The 8th POG included the 3rd PSYOP Battalion (Airborne) and the 9th PSYOP Battalion (Airborne). The 3rd POB influences print, radio and broadcast information operations around the world, while the 9th POB is typically involved in operations like dropping leaflets and cultivating local communities where Special Forces may be operating.
2020年成立的信息战中心也曾隶属于第8心理作战群。信息战中心专门为陆军特种部队结合情报行动和信息战。
The Information Warfare Center, organized in 2020, was also under the aegis of the 8th PG. The IWC combines intelligence operations and information warfare specifically for Army Special Forces.
此次撤销发生在陆军启动第7心理作战营德尔塔连仅两个月后。第7心理作战营此前隶属于第4心理作战群（空降），但现在转属第3特种作战群（空降）。该群的主要任务是在美国非洲司令部管辖范围内开展心理作战。
The inactivation comes just two months after the Army activated Delta Company, 7th Psychological Operations Battalion. The 7th was previously assigned to the 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne) but is now under the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne). That group is focused on psychological operations primarily under U.S. Africa Command’s purview.
一些军方官员和分析人士认为，美国需要改革其心理战和信息战行动的方式 — — 因此才有了德尔塔连的启用和第八心理作战群的撤编。
Some military officials and analysts have argued that the U.S. needs to overhaul its approach to psychological operations and information warfare groups — hence the Delta Company activation and the retirement of the 8th POG.
“最令人担忧的并不是对手仅仅在投资信息战，而是他们往往能够比我们更快、更连贯地使用它，”现役美国陆军心理作战军官瑞安·沃尔特斯少校在《小战争杂志》1月刊中写道。“实际上，对手通过压缩感知、塑造和利用之间的时间来获胜，而美军则受制于审批延迟、执行碎片化和评估不一致的限制。其结果是时间上的错位 — — 效果在决策已经作出之后才到达。”
“What is most concerning is not simply that adversaries invest in information warfare, but that they can often employ it faster and more coherently than we can respond,” Maj. Ryan Walters, an active-duty U.S. Army Psychological Operations officer, wrote in Small Wars Journal in January. “In practice, adversaries win by compressing the time between sensing, shaping, and exploiting, while U.S. forces remain constrained by approval latency, fragmented execution, and inconsistent assessment. The result is a temporal mismatch in which effects arrive after decisions are already made.”