Washington ? A secret military program that pays Iraqi newspapers to publish information favorable to the U.S. mission appears to violate a 2003 Pentagon directive, according to a newly declassified document released Thursday.

The information campaign run by U.S. troops and a private contractor is the subject of a high-level military investigation. Last month, the top U.S. general in Iraq said a preliminary investigation into the program found that it does not violate U.S. law or Pentagon regulations.

A secret directive on the Pentagon’s information operations policy appears to prohibit U.S. troops from conducting psychological operations targeting the news media. The directive, titled “Information Operations Roadmap,” was released by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.