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Social Media-The Vital Ground: Can We Hold It
"This Letort Paper seeks to answer some specific questions on how the U.S. Army, and by extension its allies, can best leverage social media, particularly on operations. Are they a viable and effective messaging conduit? Have they changed the information operations (IO) landscape? Does the United States have the correct force structure, training, equipment, and technology to leverage social media? Finally, how can we train our leaders to better understand and use social media? The impact of social media on the media environment has been widely recognized, as has the ability of extremist and adversarial organizations to exploit the media to publicize their cause, spread their propaganda, and recruit vulnerable individuals. Supporting the growth of social media has been the phenomenal global increase in mobile telephone usage, and much of this increase is in areas where there are existing conflicts or conflicts are highly likely. However, the full implications of the mobile and social media revolution are not yet fully understood. Social media will increasingly have a direct impact on virtually all aspects of military operations in the 21st century. In doing so, social media will force significant changes to policy, doctrine, force structures, and virtually all staff functions within operational units. New training requirements and new approaches to traditional operational challenges will be required. All this will require a wider understanding of social media and the realization that it is no longer an area simply of concern to public affairs officers (PAO) and possibly intelligence (INT)."
Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute
Tunnicliffe, Ian; Tatham, Steve, 1960-
2017-04
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U.S. Governmental Information Operations and Strategic Communications: A Discredited Tool or User Failure? Implications for Future Conflict
"Today America's uniformed military leaders and civilian defense officials are developing ways to use national power more effectively and efficiently. Gone are the days when the United States had such extensive economic and military resources that it could largely disregard the costs of its strategy. The quest to bring costs and benefits into balance places the most fundamental concepts of American strategy under scrutiny. One important initiative in the quest for increased effectiveness and efficiency has been the Strategic Landpower Task Force. A joint effort of the Army, the Marine Corps, and the Special Operations Command, this task force was created to remind the Joint Force and policymakers that armed conflict remains a clash of interests in which the antagonists attempt to impose their will on each other. Ultimately, what might be called the human domain of conflict is decisive. Thus, strategic effectiveness and efficiency require an understanding of human objectives and psychological effects. This is challenging. The profusion of information sources, and interconnectedness of the modern world, make it difficult for strategists to gauge the effect which a given action or statement will have on its intended audience. That many U.S. military activities take place in cultures very different from the American one only adds to this difficulty. But however difficult it is to gauge these effects, it is also vital to do so."
Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute
Tatham, Steve, 1960-
2013-12
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Training Humans for the Human Domain
"This monograph offers an outline for educating U.S. and allied service personnel in fundamental human domain skills and argues against their being overlooked in favor of technical solutions. Experience from Afghanistan and Iraq has demonstrated the vital nature of understanding human terrain, with conclusions relevant far beyond counterinsurgency operations in the Islamic world. Any situation where adversary actions are described as 'irrational' demonstrates a fundamental failure in understanding the human dimension of the conflict. It follows that where states and their leaders act in a manner that in the United States is perceived as irrational, this too betrays a lack of human knowledge. The monograph highlights specific elements of psychology, theology, anthropology, sociology, and linguistics as key requirements for the understanding of human terrain, which is necessary for avoiding mirroring--projecting Western assumptions onto a non-Western actor--and therefore failing correctly to assess the options available to that actor. The monograph argues for stronger Red Team input into planning and decisionmaking. These Red Teams need to be equipped with expert levels of knowledge of all the social sciences discussed--as applied to their target subject--in order to provide reliable and well-founded simulations of adversary decision processes. But over and above this, familiarity with the same principles should be far more widespread both among junior military personnel engaged in any kind of interaction with human allies or adversaries, and among the senior audience assimilating Red Team input into planning."
Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute
Tatham, Steve, 1960-; Giles, Keir
2015-11
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