# If You Question It, Report It: an Army blackboard that defines sedition and disaffection If you question it-report it is an OCASC Intelligence Section poster for U.S. Army personnel, catalogued at 1941 and signed by a Cpl. A.E. whose surname is illegible. A cartoon soldier points at a blackboard of six offenses, from sabotage to treason, and tells readers to come, call or write the intelligence officer (NAID 514592). - Home - Archive - If You Question It, Report It: an Army blackboard that defines sedition and disaffection If you question it-report it If You Question It, Report It: an Army blackboard that defines sedition and disaffection An Army intelligence poster lists six things to report, from sabotage to "Loss of Allegiance to U.S.!", with a number to call. NAID 514592. ## Techniques named on the archive record Fear appeal Date1941Made byOCASC Intelligence Section (U.S. Army), signed by Cpl. A.E. [illegible]MediumPosterCountryUnited StatesRegimeRoosevelt AdministrationNARANAID 514592; Record Group 44SourceIdentified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they areSourceU.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters , retrieved October 4, 2026SourcePublic domain (U.S. government work) OCASC Intelligence Section (U.S. Army). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1068 (NAID 514592). Object, image, and catalog record from the FRAME archive. Text on this page is CC BY 4.0. Image rights are as the archive records. Full record at propagandaarchive.org If you question it-report it is an OCASC Intelligence Section poster for U.S. Army personnel, catalogued at 1941 and signed by a Cpl. A.E. whose surname is illegible. A cartoon soldier points at a blackboard of six offenses, from sabotage to treason, and tells readers to come, call or write the intelligence officer (NAID 514592). ## The lesson on the board A cartoon soldier in cap and brown uniform holds a long pointer to a blackboard, like a teacher at the front of a class. The board lists six terms, each with a short definition. A banner tells the reader what to do, and three small figures show how: one running, one on the telephone, one at a desk. IF YOU QUESTION IT-REPORT IT! COME [running figure], CALL 242 [figure with telephone] or WRITE [figure at desk] -INTELLIGENCE OFFICER. SABOTAGE = Malicious Destruction! ESPIONAGE = Spying! SUBVERSIVE = Advocating Revolution! SEDITION = Promoting Disloyalty! DISAFFECTION = Loss of Allegiance to U.S.! TREASON = Allegiance to the Enemy! [speech balloon:] THIS IS WHAT TO REPORT! Transcription in the FRAME record, read from the image and not independently checked. Imprint "PRODUCTION OF OCASC -INTELLIGENCE SECTION-"; signature roundel reading CPL. A.E. [illegible]. Full record at propagandaarchive.org. NAID 514592, local id 44-PA-1068, Record Group 44. ## Acts on one half, attitudes on the other The six terms are not alike. Sabotage and espionage are acts: destruction and spying. Treason, as the board defines it, is allegiance to the enemy, which at least points to a side. The other three are different. "Advocating Revolution," "Promoting Disloyalty" and "Loss of Allegiance" describe speech and states of mind. A soldier asked to report a colleague's loss of allegiance is being asked to report what he thinks another man feels. The audience matters here. The FRAME catalog lists it as "Own forces," so this is the Army talking to its own people, who serve under military discipline. A commander may reasonably want to know about a sentry who is selling secrets. A poster that puts "disaffection" on the same board as sabotage invites reports about grumbling. The archive calls the fear appeal faint and notes that the sheet mainly defines terms and gives contact steps; both readings are fair, and the definitions are where the trouble sits. ## The same office, other sheets The OCASC Intelligence Section also produced If he talks off the record ... report him!, set in a bar. A civilian cartoon that pulls the other way, telling workers to leave investigation to experts, is Don't be an amateur G-man! The Roosevelt administration essay discusses the period's wartime censorship and where its limits lay. ## Sources - FRAME object record, If you question it-report it, catalogued at 1941. OCASC Intelligence Section (U.S. Army), signed Cpl. A.E. [illegible]. - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, 44-PA-1068, NAID 514592, retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work). Canonical: https://americanpropaganda.org/collection/if-you-question-it-report-it-blackboard-1941/