Information Warfare
Forging Communication Strategies for Twenty-first Century Operational Environments
James P. Farwell
DOI: 10.56686/9781732003095
ABOUT THE BOOK
Great political and military leaders understand that communication strategies are key to victory in any conflict. Seizing the narrative can enable victory while failure to do so yields that advantage to the adversary. Gone are the days when competing armies confronted one another across battlefields. The information environment has made engagements and conflict both local and global all at once such that—as never before—information warfare is critical to victory. Understanding culture, history, local political dynamics, the interactions of different players, and the need to forge cohesive communication plans at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels matters more than ever to commanders and operators. In Information Warfare, James P. Farwell describes how commanders and operators must and can define winning outcomes and the strategies, operations, and tactics to achieve them. He lays out concrete, actionable steps to get results and places them in historical context, then provides a workbook to assist readers in devising communication strategies that produce victory in the sphere of information warfare.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James P. Farwell is a recognized expert with an international reputation in legal and policy issues for cyberwar and cybersecurity and in strategic communication, especially as affecting political issues in North Africa, the Middle East, and Pakistan. He has served as a consultant for various political campaigns and to the U.S. Department of Defense, including Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Policy), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence), Special Operations–Low Intensity Conflict, U.S. Special Operations Command, and U.S. Strategic Command. He is an associate fellow of the Centre for Strategic Communication, Department of War Studies, at Kings College, University of London; a nonresident senior fellow of the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC; and a visiting scholar at Tulane University’s A. B. Freeman School of Business in New Orleans, Louisiana. Farwell publishes widely on national security issues and is the author of two books, The Pakistan Cauldron: Conspiracy, Assassination and Instability (2011) and Persuasion and Power: The Art of Strategic Communication (2012), as well as the chapter “Issues of Law Raised by Developments and Use of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology in National Security and Defense,” in Neurotechnology in National Security and Defense: Practical Considerations, Neuroethical Concerns (2014). He is the coauthor of Communication Strategy: How to Forge One That Wins (2015) and The Architecture of Cybersecurity: How General Counsel, Executives, and Boards of Directors Can Protect Their Information Assets (2017).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: What Makes a Winning Information Warfare Campaign?
Chapters:
1. Understanding Strategy for Information Warfare: What are You Trying to Accomplish?
Define What Constitutes Winning or Success
Determine Where to Acquire Necessary Knowledge
Define Your Strategy
What Are Operations and Tactics?
2. Know Your Strategic Situation
Historical Examples
Malaysian Emergency of 1948 – 60
Battle of the Little Bighorn
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Modern Examples
Iraq
Afghanistan
Philippines, 2013
Yemen
Ethiopia, 2006
3. Know Your Enemy
Historical Examples
Pakistan
Napoleon in Spain, Italy, and Russia
Modern Examples
America and Iraq
Afghanistan
Somalia
4. Know Your Partners—Foreign and Domestic
Know Your Foreign Partners
Modern Examples
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Know Your U.S. Government Partners
Afghanistan
5. Recognize Target Audience Culture as an Operational Environment
Historical Example
Pearl Harbor
Modern Examples
Somalia and General Anthony Zinni
11 September 2001 and Osama bin Laden
Somalia and Ethiopia, 2006
Panama
2003 Iraq War
6. Building Your Strategy—Your Checklist
Twenty-four Characteristics of a Communication Campaign Plan
Narrative, Story, Theme, and Message
7. Campaign Leadership
Leadership Models
Leadership Traps to Avoid
Turf among Leaders
Integrate Communication Strategy with Kinetic Strategy
8. Dos and Don’ts in Actions and Messaging
Ensure Actions Support Messages
Know Your Weak Points and Vulnerabilities
Know Your Strengths and How to Leverage Them
Avoid Inflating Claims
Project Confidence
Be Creative — Especially with Younger Audiences
Capitalize on Your Resources
9. Including Social Media in Your Strategy
Social Media: What Is It?
Difference from Traditional Media
A Historic Geographic Shift
Going Viral
Using Social Media to Influence Target Audiences
Social Media as an Intelligence Tool
Direction of Social Media
Emerging Technologies and Their Impact on Operations
Emerging Capabilities
Changing Communication Response Times
Tactically Using Social Media
Examples of Military Application of Social Media Outlets
10. The Changing Information Environment
Demographic Changes
Cultural Change
Political Change
Media Change
Political Party Changes
Technology Changes
11. Determining Campaign Effectiveness
Key Questions
Factors that Help Measure Effectiveness
How to Measure Effectiveness and Target Audience Analysis
12. Special Comment on Hybridity
Russia’s Hybrid Warfare Approach
China’s Three Warfares Approach
NATO’s Definition of Hybrid Warfare
American Notions of Gray Zone and Hybrid Warfare
The Need for New Thinking
Winning Communication Strategy Workbook
Selected Bibliography