Ukraine, Irregular-War Changes Are Reshaping Pentagon’s Info-Ops Strategy
Civilians reporting military movements and a return to proxy war will inform the first IO update in seven years.
LAUREN C. WILLIAMS | NOVEMBER 21, 2022
INFOWAR SPECIAL OPERATIONS UKRAINE STRATEGY
Lessons from Ukraine and changes in irregular warfare will be reflected in the upcoming revision of the Pentagon’s information-operations strategy, defense policy leaders said.
“Everyone has a cell phone; that’s what we’re seeing in the Ukraine. Not just soldiers having cell phones and watching the Javelin strike. Civilians are reporting the movement of Russian forces,” said Maj. Gen. Matthew Easley, a top information-ops advisor to the assistant defense secretary for special operations.
Among other things, Easley said, this means special operators need to be thinking about public narratives—how they might change and how U.S. forces can shape them—long before fighting erupts. And that means ensuring that troops have the right digital skills, including data analysis and messaging.
“Our information operators and forces must engage throughout the spectrum of operational planning and execution, and cannot wait until a crisis begins to start setting the theater for messaging,” the general said Friday at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict Symposium in Washington, D.C. “We must reinforce campaign planning to start with objectives in the cognitive domain. Understand what narratives are needed to reinforce those objectives, and then develop plans for physical action that show commitment to that narrative.”
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2022/11/ukraine-irregular-war-changes-are-reshaping-pentagons-info-ops-strategy/380025/
