Ideas As Weapons: Influence and Perception in Modern Warfare

by David, G. J., JR.

• ISBN13: 9781597972604
• ISBN10: 1597972606
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-01-21
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

The United States has struggled to define its approach to what has been called the "information battlefield" since the information era began. Yet with the outbreak of the war on terror, the United States has been violently challenged to take a position and react to the militants' use of emerging information technology. Ideological demigods operating against the United States now have unprecedented channels by which to disseminate their message to those targets who are uncertain, sympathetic, or actively supportive of their philosophy. From the caves of southeastern Afghanistan to the streets of Baghdad, "the message" has dominated the thinking of those who perpetrate horrific acts of violence, whether in the name of ideology, ethnic and sectarian partisanship, or religion. This anthology is divided into four sections: geopolitical, strategic, operational, and tactical. The geopolitical perspective covers world politics, diplomacy, and the elements of national power, excluding military force. The strategic view examines where the violence has begun and the military element of power. The operational perspective handles the campaigns to accomplish a specific purpose on the world stage-for example, as in the Iraq campaign. The tactical level takes the individual's role into account. Because the nexus of information conflict is most easily seen in the world's contemporary violent confrontations, this anthology reflects the experience and lessons learned by military personnel who have managed these difficult issues. With a foreword by Colonel H. R. McMaster, U.S. Army, the author of Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
U.S. Military Ranks	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Geopolitical
Exploiting Structural Weaknesses in Terrorist Networks: Information Blitzkrieg and Related Strategies	p. 7
The Limits of Military Information Strategies	p. 13
Defining the War on Terror	p. 17
Information Warfare	p. 27
The Power of Weakness	p. 35
Strategic Communication: A Mandate for the United States	p. 39
Reflections on Psychological Operations: The Imperative of Engaging a Conflicted Population	p. 49
New Tools, New Rules: International Law and Information Operations	p. 59
Strategic
Learning Counterinsurgency: Observations from Soldering in Iraq	p. 75
Thoughts on Journalism and the Military	p. 87
Strategic Innovation: Integrating National Power to Win in Iraq	p. 93
Maneuvering Against the Mind	p. 99
Clausewitz's Theory of War and Information Operations	p. 111
Information (in) Operations: More Than Technology	p. 123
Winning on the Information Battlefield: Is the Story Getting Out?	p. 133
In Defense of Military Public Affairs Doctrine	p. 137
Waging an Effective Strategic Communications Campaign in the War on Terror	p. 145
Marketing: An Overlooked Aspect of Information Operations	p. 163
Religion in Information Operations: More Than a "War of Ideas,"	p. 171
Telling the Afghan Military Story... Their Way	p. 187
Army IO Is PSYOPS: Influencing More with Less	p. 195
Estimates, Execution, and Error: Losing the War of Perception in Vietnam, 1960-1973	p. 207
Operational
Iraq and a Singular, Enduring Information Failure	p. 221
Between War and Peace: Low-Intensity Conflict Doctrine and the Iraqi Scenario	p. 227
Are We Outsmarting Ourselves?	p. 235
Marines Are from Mars, Iraqis Are from Venus	p. 241
Clouding the Issue: Intelligence Collection, Analysis, and Dissemination during Operation Iraqi Freedom	p. 251
Massing Effects in the Information Domain: A Case Study in Aggressive Information Operations	p. 263
Getting Inside the Cultural Context and Achieving Intelligence Success: Strategic Debriefing in the Iraq Survey Group	p. 275
Insights from Colombia's "Prolonged War,"	p. 289
Winning in the Pacific: The Special Operations Forces' Indirect Approach	p. 297
Tactical
Tactical Information Operations in West Rashid: An Iraqi National Police Battalion and Its Assigned U.S. Transition Team	p. 307
"But How Do I Do It?" Tactical Information Operations and the Planning Process	p. 323
Operation Iraqi Freedom II: Information and Influence in South-Central Iraq	p. 337
The Massacre That Wasn't	p. 341
"Census Operations" and Information Management	p. 351
Frustration	p. 357
Getting Out the Word: Information Operations on the Ground in Iraq	p. 363
Fighting for Perceptions: Tactical IO in 2004 Iraq	p. 367
By Other Means	p. 373
Patrolling Ar Ramadi	p. 379
The Privatization of Victory	p. 383
"Twenty-Eight Articles": Fundamentals of Company-Level Counterinsurgency	p. 389
Conclusion: Information in Conflict	p. 403
Notes	p. 407
Index	p. 439
About the Editors and Contributors	p. 449
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