The Need to Inoculate Military Servicemembers Against Information Threats: The Case For Digital Literacy Training for the Force
Peter W. Singer and Eric B. Johnson
February 1, 2021
Commentary
Every minute of every day, men and women in uniform are attacked by a weapon that threatens them, their services, and the nation. Yet the U.S. military has not trained them to prepare for this onslaught. It is time for this to change.
Over the last several years, misinformation and deliberately spread disinformation, pushed by both foreign and domestic sources, have proliferated online. They have shaped not just what people read and believe, but also how they act. This “weaponization of social media†has created a formidable challenge in nearly every policy area, from aiding the forces of terrorism and extremism, to being a tool of great-power competition, to damaging the vitality of our democracy.
This challenge is not just to our wider national security, but also to the military itself. Every day, millions of servicemembers at every rank use social media. In so doing, they regularly are targeted by and engage with the viral spread of false information online. The resulting effects on them and the military affect operational security, force reputation, and even the physical health of servicemembers.
https://warontherocks.com/2021/02/we-need-to-inoculate-military-servicemembers-against-information-threats-the-case-for-digital-literacy-training/
