530 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos Núm. 2 / 2013 methods of public relations and publicities agencies, in order to influence the local populations. The objective set out for the US and its armed forces was to adapt to a new context: an increase in counter-insurgency actions against the deployed troops, more appropriate management both of the image and of the perception that soldiers and local populations have of military operations, saving lives, budgetary control, and international political pressure from the side of partner states and enemies. “Fighting and winning in battle is not a sign of excellence; rather, breaking the resistance of the enemy without having to fight is excellence”.52 Propaganda is a global range of means of communication that do not resort to the use of force, and that modify the opinion, the behaviour and the emotions of any social group with the aim of directly or indirectly benefiting the instigator of said propaganda. The strategic use of signs and symbols serves to transmit a message. The similarities between propagandists and advertisers have been clearly defined by E. Bernays in his work Propaganda. In the context of the economic crisis and the ideological debate on defence spending policy in the United States, Rand Corporation, as historical expert in the area of defence and security and located in Santa Monica (California) close to Palo Alto University – a university that has developed many different methods of psychology, psycho-sociology, communication and information sciences – propounds the implementation and use of communication processes for propaganda. Propaganda used as a weapon to prevent and resolve conflicts, with think tanks as players who conceptualise and employ this weapon, is the current para-digm à la mode in the United States. CONCLUSION The symbiotic relationship that exists between think tanks and defence is based on the origin itself of these structures. The history, designation, semantics, organisation, objectives, strategies, usefulness, and field of action of think tanks align them with the broad concept of defence. Think tanks are a weapon in the war of ideas, as well as in modern classic wars, by facilitating reflection and competencies; they also encourage technological innovation and strategies, and are essential players when generating support or rejection for an intervention. Just as an army assures the physical defence of a state, a think tank defends the essence of it. By observing the phenomenon of the combination of think tank and defence in the United States, it is clear to see that, just as civil society organises to influence the direction of its own destiny during periods of crisis and change, the military-industrial 52 TZU, Sun, L’Art de la guerre, Paris: Flammarion, 1999
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