DATA AS A WEAPON: PSYCHOLOGICAL OPERATIONS IN THE AGE OF IRREGULAR INFORMATION THREATS
Jon Reisher, Charity Jacobs and John Beasley | 05.02.22
Data as a Weapon: Psychological Operations in the Age of Irregular Information Threats
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is arguably the first war to be documented and fought on social media. At the beginning of the war, Ukraine seized the initiative in the information environment, which helped Ukraine garner significant international support. Domestically, social media content, like the video of a Ukrainian farmer stealing a Russian tank with his tractor, has boosted Ukrainian morale. But these messages compete for influence in a space full of unprecedented amounts of content and disinformation. Making sense of, and creating advantages from, this deluge of information is a strategic imperative for any modern military.
A few weeks prior to the invasion, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth outlined her priorities for the US Army in a letter to the force, underlining the pivot toward great power competition with Russia and China, and the massive digital modernization required to face this threat. Her second priority highlighted the need to upgrade the US Army’s data and network capabilities to maintain its advantage in contested areas. This is because the information environment is increasingly complex and important for the cognitive aspect of conflict. If the US Army hopes to deliver decisive effects in the information environment, it must modernize the capabilities of psychological operations (PSYOP) units, which are designed to operate in this space against both near-peer adversaries and irregular threats.
Constrained and Unconstrained Information Environments
https://mwi.usma.edu/data-as-a-weapon-psychological-operations-in-the-age-of-irregular-information-threats/
