Information warfare

Information warfare is the use and management of information in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. Information warfare may involve collection of tactical information, assurance that one's own information is valid, spreading of propaganda or disinformation among the enemy, undermining the quality of opposing force information and denial of information collection opportunities to opposing forces.

Overview
Information warfare can take many forms:


 * Television and radio transmission can be jammed.
 * Television and radio transmission can be hijacked for a disinformation campaign.
 * Logistics networks can be disabled.
 * Stock exchanges transactions can be sabotaged either with electronic intervention, leaking sensitive information or placing disinformation.

During the 1991 Gulf War, Dutch hackers stole information about U.S. troop movements from U.S. Defense Department computers and tried to sell it to the Iraqis, who thought it was a hoax and turned it down. In January 1999, U.S. Air Intelligence computers were hit by a coordinated attack, part of which appeared to come from Russian hacking.

Origins
Information about own forces, allied forces and opposing forces has always been a key feature of military operations, discussed in Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War:

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

Nations, corporations, and individuals each seek to increase, protect and exploit their own information while trying to limit and penetrate the adversary's. Methods to collect, store, analyse and exploit information cover the whole range of both military and commercial activities and whilst this discussion is related to the military application of the discipline these methods legitimately apply in the commercial environment.

Since the 1960s, there have been extraordinary improvements in the technical means of transmission, protection, collection, storage and analysis which have allowed significant improvements in the exploitation of the information domain.

Information Operations
Information Operations (Info Ops) is an evolving discipline within the military. It has emerged from earlier concepts such as "Command & Control Warfare" and "Information Warfare" - mainly US dominated, originating in the 1990s and considering lessons learned from the Gulf War(s), phenomena like the so-called "CNN Effect", and the enormous advance in Information Technology.

Today Germany leads a multinational effort on developing Info Ops as an integrating function / joint mission area within the military, called the "Multinational Information Operations Experiment" (MNIOE). The current 20 MNIOE partners define Info Ops as "The advice to and co-ordination of military activities affecting information and information systems – including system behaviour and capabilities – in order to create desired effects." This definition - and its related context - differs from extant national views (e.g., the USA or GBR) and provides an advanced approach to multinational and interagency information activities in support of crisis management and effects-based operations.

Designing and implementing guidance for Coalition actions to affect information and information systems (information activities) is a challenge; it applies to the whole scope of civil-military efforts from pre-crisis situations to post-conflict reconstruction, and spans all levels of involvement.

Ongoing initiatives for Info Ops Concept Development and Experimentation (CD&E) are derived from the following problem statement:

Joint and combined warfighters lack integrated processes and organisation to plan, execute and assess effects-based information activities in a multinational and interagency context based on a comprehensive and systemic understanding of the operational environment using all available and appropriate means. In particular:


 * commanders and their staff lack the means, methods and training to gain and maintain appropriate situational awareness and understanding of the information environment;
 * commanders are often unaware of the scope and scale of options to affect information and/or information systems;
 * relevant co-ordination processes are not institutionalised, but rather depend on the personality of actors, occur by chance and/or erratically;
 * extant organisational structures often limit the flexibility of the force to adapt to mission and situation requirements;
 * commanders often do not realise the full scope of opportunities as well as risk associated with mainstream military actions and their potential to create effects on information and information systems;
 * military plans and operations are often inadequately integrated with civil information activities; the overall consistency of comprehensive Coalition efforts needs to be improved in this respect.

The MNIOE project will develop solutions to answer the following questions (CD&E issues):
 * How do we describe the characteristics of the information environment to support focused systemic analysis?
 * What means, methods and training do we need to gain a comprehensive and systemic understanding of the information environment?
 * How do we incorporate comprehensive, clear, and achievable guidance for Coalition information activities (Coalition Information Strategy) in the multinational interagency strategic planning process?
 * How do we translate and implement the Coalition Information Strategy for coordinated civil and military action at the operational level of command?
 * How can we identify, rate, and exploit the full spectrum of effects in the information environment and military information activities within a comprehensive approach?
 * How do we appropriately consider the opportunities and risks associated with effects in the information environment and mainstream military and civil actions?
 * How do we design and implement efficient and effective advice and co-ordination for planning, execution and assessment of military information activities?
 * How do we coordinate effects and activities related to the information environment amongst military and civil actors within a comprehensive approach?
 * How do we share information to enable efficient and effective multinational interagency planning for Coalition information activities?
 * How do we share information to enable efficient and effective execution and assessment of military and civil information activities?

Non-Military
Organized teams of non-military, even non-governmental information fighters become an increasingly common phenomenon. They can advance different political agendas, be involved in astroturfing, or participate in election campaigns.

Resources

 * - Information Warfare
 * IWS - The Information Warfare Site
 * The Information Warfare Monitor
 * Information Operations: The Hard Reality of Soft Power. Student text by the IW faculty of the Joint Forces Staff College. Leigh Armistead, Richard Kilroy, Zachary Hubbard
 * Information Warfare, I-War, IW, C4I, Cyberwar
 * Federation of American Scientists - IW Resources
 * Association of Old Crows http://www.myaoc.org The Electronic Warfare and Information Operations Association
 * C4I.org - Computer Security & Intelligence
 * Culture's Impact in Information Warfare
 * COSC 511 Information Warfare: Terrorism, Crime, and National Security @ Department of Computer Science, Georgetown University
 * CSE 468 - Information Conflict @ Monash Uni
 * Information Warfare, Information Operations and Electronic Attack Capabilities @ APA
 * History of the 609th Information Warfare Squadron, 1995-1999 (obtained via FOIA request)

Key papers

 * Information Warfare Basics, Fred Cohen 2006
 * What is Information Warfare? Col Andrew Borden, USAF (Ret.) @ Aerospace Power Chronicles
 * A Fundamental Paradigm of Infowar, February, 2000,  Dr Carlo Kopp
 * United States. Dept of the Air Force. Cornerstones of Information Warfare. Washington, 1995.
 * A Mathematical Theory of Communication by Claude E. Shannon, 1948.
 * Borden-Kopp Model, Research & Theory Links, Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center, Air War College, Air University
 * An essay on Information Operations by Zachary P. Hubbard

News item

 * "America's war on the web", The Sunday Herald, 2 April 2006: article on information warfare escalation and the Information Operations Roadmap commissioned by Donald Rumsfeld

United States Department of Defense IO Doctrine

 * Information Operations Roadmap (DOD 2003)
 * Information Operations (JP 3-13 2006)
 * Operations Security (JP 3-13.3)
 * Military Deception (JP 3-13.4)
 * Joint Doctrine for PSYOPS (JP 3-53 2003)
 * Joint Doctrine for Public Affairs (JP 3-61 2005)

Counterterrorism

 * Destabilizing Terrorist Networks: Disrupting and Manipulating Information Flows in the Global War on Terrorism
 * Seeking Symmetry in Fourth Generation Warfare: Information Operations in the War of Ideas