Directorate of Targeting and Information Operations

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The Directorate of Targeting and Information Operations (DTIO) is a group within the British Ministry of Defence which is involved in the Information Operations of the UK. It was established in 2001 in order "to ensure that [the MOD's] approach to information operations is fully incorporated into planning and operations".[1]

Activities

Wartime Role

Ministry of Defence Joint Doctrine Publication 3-00 (JDP3-00): Campaign Execution[2]details the role of Targeting and Information Operations during UK Military campaigns. The DTIO "formulates the Ministry of Defence contribution to the information strategy" of the campaign, which "provides a single coherent strategy to which all aspects of government must work...it encompasses both the management of information, in the form of themes and messages, and the specific actions to be conducted with the intention of promoting a desired message".
JDP3-00 is detailed about the role of the DTIO in operations, stating that:

Targeting and Information Operations (TIO) is the Ministry of Defence (MOD) department responsible for integrating strategic fires and influence activities’ policies towards achieving Joint Action. The role of TIO is to:
a. Provide specialist military advice to Ministers.
b. Provide target systems analysis in accordance with the Security Cooperation and Operations Group directive for contingency planning or conflict avoidance.
c. Develop and review the Chief of Defence Staff’s (CDS’) targeting directive in consultation with the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) for specific operations.
d. Coordinate strategic input to operational influence activities and monitor implementation of strategic guidance for influence activities.
e. Develop and review MOD rules of engagement profiles for specific operations, in conjunction with MOD Central Legal Services and PJHQ.
f. Manage the process of Ministerial clearance for discrete operational matters regarding targeting of fires and influence activities.
g. Coordinate Defence Intelligence Staff support to the process of campaign effectiveness assessment. [3]

As well as responsibility for generating the "Master Target List" of military targets, Targeting and Informations Operations is responsible for "Influence Activities", which are described in JDP3-00:

Influence activities are an integral part of the strategic plan. The Cabinet Office endorses an Information Strategy for a given theatre or operation which directs Government departments to compile their own supporting implementation plans and report back to the appropriate Information Strategy Group. It seeks to encourage cross-Government engagement but does not contain the detail that the MOD would require to direct influence activities. MOD, through TIO, formulates the MOD contribution to the Information Strategy, which is then reflected in the Information Strategy at a Glance document, containing influence themes, objectives and identifying the target audiences.[4]

For a full description of the role of Information Operations in Campaign Execution, see JDP3-00

Information Operations

Air Vice Marshall Mike Heath who was head of the DTIO during Operation Telic (The British Military's name for the 2003 invasion of Iraq) describes Information Operations thus:

The concept of Information Operations for the military is to garner cross government activity, not just military activity, to contribute towards influence and persuasion. I like to think of it as a continuum, that if you get it right it starts during pre war fighting where you are looking towards dissuasion and coercion; it continues into military operations; and, of course, it then wraps up and it is just as essential that you carry it through into post conflict restoration and reconstitution [5]

Information Operations should be understood as a crossgovernmental practice, for example the information campaign in Operation Telic was lead from the Cabinet Office, with the involvement of the Foreign Office, Home Office and Department for International Development.[6] The DTIO "provides strategic guidance on targeting and the cross-government information campaign, as well as advice to Ministers and the Chiefs of Staff" [7] and works on Information Operations with the Director General, Operational Policy - to form a mutually supporting role in the influence campaign with other groups involved in Media Operations.

Psychological Operations

Psychological Operations (Psyops) are "the tactical end of the strategic information operations whole"[8] and is seen as specifically military in nature as "it is specifically targeted by military means into target audiences" [9]. In the UK Psyops capability is provided by 15 (UK) Psychological Operations Group who, in Iraq, were involved in actions such as setting up a coalition sponsored radio station in Basra - Radio Nahrain.[10]

Staff

In 2004 the the DTIO had a staff of 98, including "a psychiatrist, an anthropologist, and other specialist staff"; it also also "has contacts with a variety of experts in the United Kingdom in universities and other institutions"[11]. There is a dearth of information in the public domain about the DTIO, the following is a partial list of staff or affiliates with the year (or years) in which they are known to be involved with the DTIO

Directors

Other Staff

2008: Dr George Brander, Capability Adviser Human Factors [17] Dr Brander was a principle psychologist at DERA[18] and is (or was) involved with the Strategic Analysis Group of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory [19]

Affiliations

  • DTIO used the American Information Operations firm the Rendon Group "to provide advice on information campaigns" - at least between 1999 and 2004 [20]
  • DTIO has organised the Information Operations and Influence Activity Symposium in association with the Defence Academy and Cranfield University [21]

Location

The Directorate of Targeting and Information Operations
Old War Office Building
Whitehall
London
SW1A 2EU [22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Select Committee on Defence, Second Report: Annex, Intelligence, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2000-2001, accessed 09/02/10
  2. ↑ Campaign Execution, JDP3-30, JDP3-30 (3rd Edition),October 2009, Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, accessed 10/02/10
  3. ↑ Campaign Execution, JDP3-30, JDP3-30 (3rd Edition),October 2009, Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, accessed 10/02/10
  4. ↑ Campaign Execution, JDP3-30, JDP3-30 (3rd Edition),October 2009, Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, accessed 10/02/10
  5. ↑ Select Committee On Defence, Third Report: Information Operations, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2003-2004, accessed 09/02/10)
  6. ↑ Select Committee On Defence, Third Report: Information Operations, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2003-2004, accessed 09/02/10)
  7. ↑ Select Committee On Defence, Third Report: Information Operations, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2003-2004, accessed 09/02/10)
  8. ↑ Select Committee On Defence, Third Report: Information Operations, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2003-2004, accessed 09/02/10)
  9. ↑ Select Committee On Defence, Third Report: Information Operations, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2003-2004, accessed 09/02/10)
  10. ↑ Select Committee On Defence, Third Report: Information Operations, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2003-2004, accessed 09/02/10)
  11. ↑ Select Committee On Defence, Third Report: Information Operations, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2003-2004, accessed 09/02/10)
  12. ↑ 8th Annual Information Operations Europe, Programme, International Quality and Productivity Centre, accessed 09/02/10
  13. ↑ Information Operations and Influence Activity Syposium, 2008, IOIA 2008, Programme, accessed 09/02/10
  14. ↑ Countering Terrorism in a Changed World, Security News (24/11/09), accessed 09/02/10
  15. ↑ A Guide to Appointments and Invitations (August 04), MOD Foreign Liaison Staff, accessed 09/02/10)
  16. ↑ Select Committee On Defence, Third Report: Information Operations, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2003-2004, accessed 09/02/10)
  17. ↑ Information Operations and Influence Activity Syposium, 2008, IOIA 2008, Programme, accessed 09/02/10
  18. ↑ Lieutenant Colonel J P Storr (2003), Human Aspects of Command, Directorate General of Development and Doctrine, accessed 09/02/10
  19. ↑ DSTL IET Briefing Paper, Briefing Paper on RAO Human Capability Priority Research Area 2: Technology Insertion, QuinetiQ Website, accessed 09/02/10
  20. ↑ Select Committee On Defence, Third Report: Information Operations, Defence Committee Publications, Session 2003-2004, accessed 09/02/10)
  21. ↑ IOIA Syposium 2010 Information Operations and Influence Activity Symposium, Symposium 2010, accessed 09/02/10
  22. ↑ A Guide to Appointments and Invitations (July 2007), MOD Foreign Liaison Staff, accessed 09/02/10
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