Adversary Approaches to Political Warfare and Information Warfare

TOPIC SPONSOR: JSOU

How do the approaches by Russia and China to modern political warfare, in particular the exploitation of the information environment to manipulate, coerce, and control, potentially provide a model for the U.S. to understand the nature of modern political warfare by our adversaries and counter it? “Mission Command” of national influence campaigns is difficult to operationalize. How do adversaries decide, manage, and coordinate operations or take advantage of emergent opportunities? What is their likely planning cycle for these operations? How far out are they preparing the operational environment? What tools and methods are used to coerce and control populations? What do their virtual networks look like? Can populations be inoculated against the tactics they employ? What impact do these tools and methods have on U.S. influence operations? How can the DoW disrupt malign information and activities through exposure?

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