During his keynote speech at the April 13 Phoenix Challenge Conference, former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Dr. Michael Vickers shared his assessment of the Top 5 Trends in Information Operations and their implications. One need only read news and journals (and not just exclusive to the IO community) to see these trends playing...Read More

Nicholas J. Myers writes in Eurasia Daily Monitor about the resurgence of information warfare in Russian military training exercises. His article, “Psychology in Modern Russian Warfare,” from April 14, 2021, describes a March 2021 exercise in which a Russian reconnaissance unit forced a group of “terrorists” to surrender a town with “with a combination of dropped...Read More

I know many of you (me too!) have been looking for the posting of recordings and a summary of the proceedings of the Phoenix Challenge conference conducted 13 April.  It’s coming soon. The truth is there was so much good discourse that the Phoenix Challenge staff in San Antonio, TX has taken on the task...Read More

As we prepare for the 2021 Phoenix Challenge Conference on April 13, 2021, co-sponsored and organized by the Information Professionals Association (IPA) and the University of Maryland’s Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS), we are sharing the latest update to our agenda. Dr. Michael Vickers, former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, will provide our keynote...Read More

We are thrilled by the overwhelmingly positive response to the re-imagined 2021 Phoenix Challenge Conference on April 13, 2021, co-sponsored and organized by the Information Professionals Association (IPA) and the University of Maryland’s Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS). This day-long event will bring together practitioners from government, academia, and industry to discuss issues related to...Read More

Be sure to join us on April 13, 2021 for the 2021 Phoenix Challenge Conference, co-sponsored and organized by the Information Professionals Association (IPA) and the University of Maryland’s Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS). This day-long event will bring together practitioners from government, academia, and industry to discuss challenges and possible solutions to operating in the...Read More

Understanding the neuroscience and cognitive psychology behind how people process information is foundational to the practice of cognitive security. While we often focus on the “dark arts”- how our adversaries attempt to twist our thinking based on disinformation – a recent Washington Post review of a book by Shankar Vendantam and Bill Mesler titled Useful...Read More

It is curious (and maybe profound) to find an article impacting cognitive security and disinformation issues in the business section of the newspaper, but The Washington Post included an examination of the technology behind deepfake generators on the front page of the Business section on March 28, 2021. Anyone who spends time doom scrolling on...Read More

Outsourcing disinformation and its impact on future conflict and that “firehose” Manufacturing is far from the only thing that can be outsourced or offshored.  Who hasn’t wondered if that call center or help line person to whom we’re talking is located more than 6 time zones away?  It’s likely been going on for some time...Read More

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew A. Stroup writes in the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC) blog about his proposal for the Navy to invest in expanding and embedding Public Affairs (PA) capabilities into Navy Warfighting Development Centers (WDC). “The time to include PA considerations holistically in the fleet readiness development cycle is now – and...Read More