From The Economist: “Rand Waltzman, a former programme manager at America’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and now at the RAND Corporation, explains that “when target forces start to counter these [Russian] efforts and/or expose them on a large scale, the Russians are likely to accelerate the improvement of their techniques…in other words, an […]Read More

We read a great deal about how social media is used to propagate the ‘bad’ whether it’s ISIS videos or ‘fake news’ both catering to an audience inclined to believe whatever is peddled due to affiliation – tribal, political, ethnicity, etc. The same means can also be used for good – whether it’s Iranians gathering […]Read More

Re-published from The Strategy Bridge Drs. Waltzman and Paul both spoke at IPA’s recent symposium which addressed a wide range of topics under the rubric of Cognitive Security.  Dr. Waltzman is also a founding board member of IPA.  Dr. Paul has written extensively on issues facing DoD Information Operations and Counter-Insurgency strategy. How the Pentagon […]Read More

Sharp Power, Not Too Hard, Not Too Soft, Just Right By Tim Anderson – IPA Contributor Terms like the gray zone, active measures, weaponing information, and similar remain topical when looking at the information environment and cognitive security.  Sharp power is another term worth consideration. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) crafted the term sharp […]Read More

  The Russians are taking advantage of “seams between our policies, our laws and our bureaucracy,” said Austin Branch, a former Defense Department official who specialized in information operations. The WP’s article by veteran reporters Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima and Greg Jaffe doesn’t pull any punches but also doesn’t highlight any issues that haven’t been […]Read More

Greetings – Your association wants to thank all of you for your support of our first event in Washington on November 15th.  Our hosts – Booz Allen Hamilton – graciously provided a facility which allowed us to eat, drink, and listen intently to a diverse group of speakers each of whom brought a particular perspective […]Read More

Guest Post by Timothy C. Anderson The recent Global Security Forum 2017 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies highlighted the importance of cognitive security in the session, “The West Strikes Back”. After Heather Conley’s (the moderator) introductory review of “The Kremlin Playbook, Understanding Russian Influence in Central and Eastern Europe”, Conley highlighted Russia’s […]Read More

On November 1, 2017 the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held an open hearing titled “Social Media Influence in the 2016 U.S. Elections.” Following the hearing, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was quoted in the Washington Post as saying “I went home last night with profound disappointment.” Well, I too am profoundly disappointed with the […]Read More

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been watching an interesting development in the Swedish social media space. It is the move from Facebook, that some in Sweden perceive as an environment where free and open discussion is not possible, to the Russian version of Facebook called VK where they can freely speak their […]Read More

I like my headline better than that of the original article “The nature of warfare is changing. It’s time governments caught up” which doesn’t quite capture the author’s words.  General Sir Richard Barrons is telling us that the nature of conflict has continued to evolve but at its heart, war remains what it always has:  […]Read More