Canceled in Combat: Get Ready for Smear War
Sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton
To understand future information warfare threats, it is helpful to identify specific tactics that can be used and how they have been employed recently.
By Captain Don Gomez, U.S. Army
June 2021
Proceedings
Vol. 147/6/1,420
In the past year, tit-for-tat skirmishes have increased between the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy and the United States and its allies. Iranian gunboats routinely taunt allied patrols, recklessly crisscrossing through formations and narrowly avoiding collisions, seeking to provoke an overly aggressive response. Allied restraint prevents disaster, but the trajectory points toward conflict.
Imagine this scenario: In a major escalation, a U.S. destroyer on patrol in the Persian Gulf suffers a series of strikes from a swarm of small, unmanned aircraft systems during the predawn hours. As the sun rises over the Gulf, images of thick black smoke billowing skyward from the destroyer’s deck appear on Iranian state television and subsequently flood social media and cable news programs back in the United States. Commander Harvey Jones, the destroyer’s commanding officer, films a statement during the effort to contain the flames, praising the resilience of his sailors and vowing to hold accountable those responsible for the attack. Released by the U.S. Fifth Fleet public affairs team, the short clip quickly goes viral, and Commander Jones becomes an overnight media sensation.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2021/june/canceled-combat-get-ready-smear-war
