Information Operation

Information Operation  (Deception,  Fraud,  Propaganda,  Statecraft,  Information warfare)
Type	Idea
Interest of	• Michael A. Aquino • Association of Old Crows • George Eliason • Joel Harding • The 77th Brigade

Information operations, also known as influence operations or IO, are campaigns in the field of and information warfare, dedicated to obtaining a decisive advantage in the information environment, which includes social media. Part of it is the collection of information about an adversary, then the dissemination of propaganda in pursuit of a competitive advantage over the opponent.

Information operations can and are directed against domestic audiences as well.

“In the battle of perception management, where the enemy is clearly using the media to help manage perceptions of the general public, our job is not perception management but to counter the enemy's perception management,”
Lawrence Di Rita (December 2004) 

Astroturf

Astroturfing is a method that can be used to make belief that there exists support for one idea or another, when in actuality that support is simulated by the use of sock puppet accounts on a massive scale. "AI technology" can be employed.

"Cyberwarfare"

IO has strong overlap with "Cyberwarfare".

US military definition

IO is defined by the US military as “the integrated employment, during military operations, of information-related capabilities in concert with other lines of operation to influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp the decision-making of adversaries and potential adversaries while protecting our own.” This could mean among other things: spreading of false information, impersonation, denying network access (Internet/local) and destruction of hardware. The former two more are in the range of IO, the later two in the range of cyber attacks/war. In other words, "IO can be performed in any domain, including cyberspace. An airplane dropping leaflets with a message aimed to influence an audience is conducting IO (psychological ops) without using cyberspace. Similarly, operations in cyberspace are not limited to IO. Manipulating an enemy airport computer system to disable the fuel pumps is a cyberspace operation, but not an example of IO".

 

An example

Page name	Description
Forged 2022 Rand report	A forged paper paper allegedly produced by the Rand corporation.

 

Related Quotation

Page	Quote	Author
Robert Steele	“This may strike your listeners as way out, but we actually believe that there is a colony on Mars. It is populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a 20 year ride so that once they get to Mars they have no alternative but to be slaves on the Mars colony.”	Robert Steele

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Integrity Initiative Budget for the 12 months ending 31 March 2019	Budget and activity plan	2 November 2018	Integrity Initiative	Budget outlining how Integrity Initiative is going to control the information space, and influence policy-makers, specialists and media.
Document:The Integrity Initiative Guide to Countering Russian Disinformation	analysis	2 November 2018	Integrity Initiative	A guide to Russian disinformation, an ideological prep guide for dedicated II operatives
Document:The Network of Networks	analysis	30 May 18 JL	Chris Donnelly	A handbook for Integrity Initiative activities, including starting clusters
File:MindWar.pdf	paper	1980	Paul E. Vallely Michael A. Aquino

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