Information is Power: Information systems and the principles of modern warfare

February 04, 2017

Links: Competence in military intelligence - Reviewed on 2.4.17

competence definition - Google Search
competence in military intelligence - Google Search
transcultural competence in military intelligence - Google Search
Promoting Cross-Cultural Competence in Intelligence Professionals - Google Search
Military Cross-Cultural Competence: core concepts and individual development - selmeskimay2007.pdf
Promoting Cross-Cultural Competence in Intelligence Professionals | Small Wars Journal

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Video released by Pentagon to prove Donald Trump's deadly Yemen raid was successful is a decade old and available… https://t.co/Q4yMZIlkFi pic.twitter.com/btTCRSWCQl
— Telegraph News (@TelegraphNews) February 3, 2017

Voila!

‏@thehill

Poll: Trump has lowest approval ratings of any new president ever polled http://hill.cm/3w3EFNl 

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Information and the principles of modern warfare

These musings below are on the roles of the military information systems integrations processes, including in the building of the new military alliances, and the role of the common information space in these processes.

America is our mother and our father. No other nation is as worldly and as world-centric as this nation: "At the worldcentric ethical stage, the subject is concerned with the welfare of all human beings."

By extension, The World is our mother and our father. What is good for America, is good for the world, and vice versa, what is good for the world as a whole, is good for America. This appears to be the main principle of the Global Security, which incorporates the U.S. National Security, and to which the regional and the other sub-regional and national security arrangements are the logical and natural extensions and derivatives, built on the existing alliances, and sometimes requiring the new alliances.

This is not the question of injecting the facilitating, curative lubricant into the ailing sick knees, this is the question of getting the additional new pair of good, well functioning, smart, and sometimes very smart, useful, helpful and well-allied legs. Any extraneous, or dysfunctional, or not adequately functioning obstacles in this process are secondary to the main considerations and should be put aside. Besides, I trust the natural and the facilitated processes of uncovering the truth.

The success of the modern warfare and military operations, including the ever and the inevitably expanding SOF operations, depends to a significant degree on the successful, efficient, and secure integration of their governing and commanding functional information systems. The existing alliances are strengthened and integrated on the basis of these systems. The new, emerging alliances should be built with the recognition and understanding of their respective information systems' roles, and with their help. In other words, the new alliances are made of, among the other factors, and come into their functional existence by the integration: relative, gradual, flexible - of their component information systems, which, on a larger scale, are the special and the specific, the military, but the logical extensions of the world's common information space. The seemingly intangible emotional, cultural, and trans-cultural factors, such as communications and their patterns, language, customs, styles, personalities, good will, trust, and bonding, are, in fact, paramount and tangibly important, and also are the part and parcel, prerequisite and sequence, part of the structure and the function of this process in its totality, which is positive feedback driven, and integrates these factors simultaneously with the others, more "tangible" ones. Well integrated and well, smoothly functioning professional information system will facilitate the process of integration for these factors also.

If the "battlespace" is the war space governed by the integrated information system, the same, but for the reversed purposes, can be said, conceptualized, and built for the "Global Security Space" as the cooperation and the peace maintenance space, based on the shared and integrated information systems; they constitute the two sides of the same coin, the two opposites of the same dialectical unity and entity.

The historical processes of the social evolution based on the shared values of The World-centric Western ("European, Judaeo-Christian") Civilization, commonly but misleadingly called "democratization" in the individual world nations and regions, are facilitated by their incorporation and integration into the World System, with its common information and the "battle-security" spaces.

These processes of social evolution should be viewed not as the function of the mode of the political governance, of which the misnomer "democracies" is not really the "best" system universally. As it was so famously noted, it is actually the worst but without the acceptable and viable alternatives for the Western societies. However, in other societies and cultures, and in some situations and circumstances, the better, and the better functioning in those circumstances alternative can be found.
The democratic systems function relatively well and naturally in the relatively ethnically homogeneous (the Socrates' thought, find the exact quote, if you can, please) and in the culturally, educationally, and economically advanced societies, and is not at all in the ethnically, racially, or linguistically heterogeneous and non-advanced societies, where it is simply not applicable, not reflective of realities, or is not a viable concept in terms of descriptive power and real-life functioning, with "dysfunctional democracy" as the more correct term, and with the "benign paternalism" as the much more appropriate mode of the political governing and social advancement. This evolution, or the process of social progress and advancement, has to be viewed as the function of the Social Health, and, in a circular return motion, as its prerequisite, be it the "democracy" or the "benign paternalism", or any other form of the political governance, whatever was naturally historically formed and is working properly and successfully for the any given society and/or culture at any given moment of its historical development.

As a matter of fact, the "benign or not so benign paternalism", in its various shapes and forms, from the Chinese Communist Party rule to the Russian pseudo-Western pseudo-democracy, to the theocratic Middle Eastern and the cannibalistic African tyrannies, appears to be the predominant mode of governing, under the whatever names, guises, and claims.

The truly benign paternalism, well educated, enlightened, free from corruption, built on the models of the Western European traditions of civil service, "progressive" (not "socialist" necessarily) or progress oriented, and egalitarian, etc., etc., appears to be a much more viable system than any other, like the dysfunctional ones, calling themselves the "democracies".

The Healthy Society is comprised of the healthy individuals and the healthy families, continuing to perpetuate the Healthy Culture, the unhealthy ones are the diametrically opposite in their various and miserable diversity and multitude, reminding the Tolstovian dictum: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

The concept of benign paternalism as the model and the system of the international relations and the instrument of maintaining the global security would fit naturally into the bio-social hierarchy of the world order with the American-Western exceptionalism and its broad Western culture based alliance as the pacemaker and the peacemaker, as the pace-setter and the rules-setter, advancing the conflict resolutions and maintaining the global security on the long-term and stable basis; replacing the chaos, the wars, the misery and suffering with the conditions for the unabated social and economic developments.

What does all of this have to do with the battlefields and the information systems integration?

The war-peace functional-dysfunctional continua are inevitably related, conceptually and causally to the continua of the functions of societies, healthy or unhealthy, and to the resulting conflicts between societies and cultures, which sometimes turn into wars. Military information systems, their integration, and role in building the alliances reflect the concepts of the common information space, world system, and the world information system, both at peace and at war.

If it takes a village, it takes a platoon, too.

With all this, much remains to be thought out, conceptualized, verbalized, operationalized, utilized, and sometimes even "monetized", as our civilizational custom and habits are. Free thinking generates guilt, it has to be bound and tied to the familiar utilitarian lampposts.

Information is Power. Raw or refined, political, military, ideational and ideological, creative, scientific, artistic, in all its ways, shapes, and forms - but the genuine, unadulterated, many-faceted and many-dimensional, universal Power.

Michael Novakhov

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Links:

Information systems in the World around us: Information Systems in Modern Warfare

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Global Command and Control System - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 12:11 PM

Global Command and Control System (GCCS) is the United States' armed forces DoD joint command and control (C2) system used to provide accurate, complete, and timely information for the operational chain of command for U.S. armed forces. "GCCS" is most often used to refer to the computer system, but actually consists of hardware, software, common procedures, standards, and numerous applications and interfaces that make up an “operational architecture” that provides worldwide connectivity with all levels of command. GCCS incorporates systems that provide situational awareness, support for intelligence, force planning, readiness assessment, and deployment applications that battlefield commanders require to effectively plan and execute joint military operations.

Defense Information Systems Agency - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 11:45 AM

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. DISA provides information technology (IT) and communications support to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, the military services, the combatant commands, and any individual or system contributing to the defense of the United States.

According to the mission statement on the agency website, DISA “provides, operates, and assures command and control, information sharing capabilities, and a globally accessible enterprise information infrastructure in direct support to joint warfighters, National level leaders, and other mission and coalition partners across the full spectrum of operations.” DISA’s vision is “Information superiority in defense of our Nation.”

technological warfare definition - Google Search
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 6:20 AM

Military technology is the application of technology for use in warfare. It comprises the kinds of technology that are distinctly military in nature and not civilian in application, usually because they lack useful or legal civilian applications, or are dangerous to use without appropriate military training.

Military technology - Wikipedia

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_</a>technology

9 principles of warfare - Google Search
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 6:17 AM

Maneuver – Place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power. ... At all levels of war, employment of military forces in a manner that masses combat power toward a common objective requires unity of command and unity of effort.

Principles of war - Wikipedia

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/</a>Principles_of_war

principles of modern warfare - Google Search
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 6:05 AM

In 1994, the U.S. Army's Field Manual 100–5 listed the following basic principles: Objective: Direct every military operation toward a clearly defined, decisive and attainable objective. "The ultimate military purpose of war is the destruction of the enemy's armed forces and will to fight."

Principles of warfare - Wikipedia

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/</a>Principles_of_warfare

Computer network operations - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 6:04 AM

Computer Network Operations (CNO) is a broad term that has both military and civilian application. Conventional wisdom is that information is power, and more and more of the information necessary to make decisions is digitized and conveyed over an ever expanding network of computers and other electronic devices. Computer network operations are deliberate actions taken to leverage and optimize these networks to improve human endeavor and enterprise or, in warfare, to gain information superiority and deny the enemy this enabling capability.

Cyberwarfare - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 6:03 AM

Cyberwarfare has been defined as "actions by a nation-state to penetrate another nation's computers or networks for the purposes of causing damage or disruption",[1]:6 but other definitions also include non-state actors, such as terrorist groups, companies, political or ideological extremist groups, hacktivists, and transnational criminal organizations.[2][3][4][5][6]

Some governments have made it an integral part of their overall military strategy, with some having invested heavily in cyberwarfare capability.[7][8][9][10] Cyberwarfare is essentially a formalized version of penetration testing in which a government entity has established it as a warfighting capability.[11] This capability uses the same set of penetration testing methodologies but applies them, in the case of United States doctrine, in a strategical way to

Prevent cyber attacks against critical infrastructure
Reduce national vulnerability to cyber attacks
Minimize damage and recovery time from cyber attacks[11]

Offensive operations are also part of these national level strategies for officially declared wars as well as undeclared secretive operations.[12]

Information warfare - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 6:02 AM

Information warfare (IW) is a concept involving the use and management of information and communication technology in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. Information warfare may involve collection of tactical information, assurance(s) that one's own information is valid, spreading of propaganda or disinformation to demoralize or manipulate[citation needed] the enemy and the public, undermining the quality of opposing force information and denial of information-collection opportunities to opposing forces. Information warfare is closely linked to psychological warfare.[1]

The United States military focus tends to favor technology, and hence tends to extend into the realms of electronic warfare, cyberwarfare, information assurance and computer network operations, attack and defense.

Most of the rest of the world use the much broader term of "Information Operations" which, although making use of technology, focuses on the more human-related aspects of information use, including (amongst many others) social network analysis, decision analysis and the human aspects of command and control.

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Battlespace - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 6:01 AM

Battlespace is a term used to signify a unified military strategy to integrate and combine armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including air, information, land, sea, and space to achieve military goals. It includes the environment, factors, and conditions that must be understood to successfully apply combat power, protect the force, or complete the mission. This includes enemy and friendly armed forces, infrastructure, weather, terrain, and the electromagnetic spectrum within the operational areas and areas of interest.[1][2]

Revolution in Military Affairs - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 5:59 AM

The military concept of Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) is a military-theoretical hypothesis, about the future of warfare, often connected to technological and organizational recommendations for change in the United States military and others. Broadly stated, RMA claims that in certain periods of the history of humankind, there were new military doctrines, strategies, tactics and technologies which led to an irrevocable change in the conduct of warfare. Furthermore, those changes require an accelerated adaptation of novel doctrines and strategies.

Especially tied to modern information, communications, and space technology, RMA is often linked to current discussions under the label of Transformation and total systems integration in the U.S. military.

Modern warfare - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 5:58 AM

Network-centric[edit]

Main article: Network-centric warfare

Network-centric warfare is essentially a new military doctrine made possible by the Information Age. Weapons platforms, sensors, and command and control centers are being connected through high-speed communication networks. The doctrine is related to the Revolution in Military Affairs debate.

The overall network which enables this strategy in the United States military is called the Global Information Grid.

Modern warfare - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 5:57 AM

Intelligence[edit]

Propaganda

Main article: Propaganda

Propaganda is an ancient form of disinformation concerted with sending a set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of large numbers of people. Instead of impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. The most effective propaganda is often completely truthful, but some propaganda presents facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience.

Psychological

Main article: Psychological warfare

Psychological warfare had its beginnings during the campaigns of Genghis Khan through the allowance of certain civilians of the nations, cities, and villages to flee said place, spreading terror and fear to neighboring principalities. Psychological actions have the primary purpose of influencing the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to support the achievement of national objectives.

Information

Main article: Information warfare

Made possible by the widespread use of the electronic media during World War II, Information warfare is a kind of warfare where information and attacks on information and its system are used as a tool of warfare. Some examples of this type of warfare are electronic "sniffers" which disrupt international fund-transfer networks as well as the signals of television and radio stations. Jamming such signals can allow participants in the war to use the stations for a misinformation campaign.

Modern warfare - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 5:54 AM

Electronic[edit]

Main article: Electronic warfare

Electronic warfare refers to mainly non-violent practices used chiefly to support other areas of warfare. The term was originally coined to encompass the interception and decoding of enemy radio communications, and the communications technologies and cryptography methods used to counter such interception, as well as jamming, radio stealth, and other related areas. Over the later years of the 20th century and early years of the 21st century, this has expanded to cover a wide range of areas: the use of, detection of and avoidance of detection by radar and sonar systems, computer hacking, etc.

Modern warfare - Wikipedia
Saturday February 4th, 2017 at 5:53 AM

With the invention of nuclear weapons, the concept of full-scale war carries the prospect of global annihilation, and as such conflicts since WWII have by definition been "low intensity" conflicts,[2] typically in the form of proxy wars fought within local regional confines, using what are now referred to as "conventional weapons," typically combined with the use of asymmetric warfare tactics and applied use of intelligence.

More recently, the US Department of Defense introduced a concept of battlespace as the integrated information management of all significant factors that impact on combat operations by armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including information, air, land, sea, and space. It includes the environment, factors, and conditions that must be understood to successfully apply combat power, protect the force, or complete the mission. This includes enemy and friendly forces; facilities, weather and terrain within the operational areas and areas of interest.[3]

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