Influence Warfare

Stabilization and resilience analysis for influence campaigns.

This is a rerelease (formatted for the Spotify channel).

This is a re-release (using format for Spotify channel).

This is a Spotify/Audible version of "AI's Deception Warfare Today?"

How CCP stays on message everyday, everywhere. With prejudice and impunity.

Article with full citations and quotes forthcoming.

These podcasts are required listening. They do not replace a lecture, plenary, or seminar. They are in lieu of additional required reading to save you time. Please stream or download anytime. Any issues, please email Howard Clark at CIC.

This particular podcast introduces SLFC12-13, with an emphasis on SLFC12.

Intro (0:00)

Definitions (1:42)

Preparation for SSS10 Exercise (3:00)

Hacking the Mind and Beyond (16:32)

 

(should have said "March and April" on communications lessons at the beginning of podcast, not February)

This is the longest podcast of the semester by far.

(should have said "March and April" and not February--yes, I know what month and year I'm in, but require more coffee for future podcasts)

Last part is a refresher for INW students -- consonance and resonance, but for this course applying to missions intending to deceive, persuade, inform.

LLOs and other two readings discussed in seminar.

0:00 - limits of analysis of social media opinions

4:00 - limits of blind disinformation to affect the mind

8:54 - five new pillars of disinformation:

1) engage prefrontal cortex as little as possible

2) master platforms

3) exploit conspiracy-theory phenomena

4) target subconscious

5) target limbic system (especially outrage and trust)

 

 

Consonance: Identify stabilizing civil-society/governance networks whose goals are in consonance with those of the United States.

Resonance: Subtly/silently/invisibly/distantly enable/leverage/strengthen/amplify consonant networks.

Tools, networks, ways, and means are taught through case study summaries.

1. Soviet dissidents' 'glasnost' campaigns
2. Genghis Khan's 'szalámitaktika' campaigns
3. Harriet Tubman's leveraging of U.S. Army
4. British support of Arab revolt (WWI)
5. Kaiser's support of Lenin (WWI)

1. Reflexive control: Influence an adversary to want to make decisions designed by the protagonist--without adversary being aware of manipulation.
2. Zugzwang: German. Zug: to move. Zwang: compulsion. Compel a target's countermove that will weaken the target's position (target subverts itself).  
3. Telemachus: Greek. Warfare from afar--conducting influence from another country or continent.
4. Slow burn: Thousand subtle pricks. Each disparate tactic is indirect, subtle, unthreatening--unlikely raise alarms. In its totality, there are eventually strategic effects.
5. Stealth/deception: Because influence is by definition indirect and insensible, deception and stealth are often vital to successful influence.

1. first and flood
2. 'dietrologia' (Italian for search for forces behind events--also further reflects on 'saudade' from last week)
3. 'glasnost'
4. trust building
5. visa programs (for subtle amplification and growing of followers of fellow-traveler influencers)
6. trust warfare (science and medicine)
7. astroturfing
8. entryism (in reference to a supposed Trotskyism tactic)
9. induce reckless success (stretch the enemy thin through false narratives that they are 'doing' better than they actually are)
10. weaponized translation (to better reach audiences in authoritarian states, sometimes)

LLOs, discussions in plenary, seminars.

LLOs, discussions in plenary, seminars.

LLOs, discussions in plenary, seminars.

LLOs, discussions in plenary, seminars.

00:00 – background/context 

06:58 – definitions

08:16 – preparation for case study for THE OPPRESSED – FIFTH COLUMNS

21:52 – HACKING THE MIND

20 minutes. Spent the morning editing it down. As always this podcast acts as if it were a reading--general preparation for seminar discussion/exercise.

LLOs, Q&A in seminar

LLOs, presentation in plenary.

LLOs, panel, discussion in plenary/seminar.

LLOs, panel in plenary. First two readings and video introduced at beginning. Attila the Hun reading analyzed, from one perspective, at the end of the podcast.

LLOs, case studies in class.

LLOs, case studies in seminar.

LLOs, case studies in plenary and seminars.

LLOs, case studies in seminar.

Exercise / case study in seminar.

LLOs, discussion in seminar.

LLOs, discussion in seminar.

LLOs, intro, discussions in plenary and seminars.

For INW10. LLO, case studies, discussions in seminar.

40 minutes. Re-cut, re-mastered 'director's cut' for fall 2021.

• Refers to INW3 (networks and narratives) several times.
• And refers briefly once to a supplementary reading by E.B. Boyd (NOT REQUIRED reading and hopefully you can get the gist from the podcast).
• The bell curve described is different than Simon Sinek's bell curve (the youtube video for INW6) on early adopters. These are different phenomena, but we can compare or combine them in seminar if you wish.

For INW4. LLOs, discussions in seminar.

First 2.5 minutes are review. Then attempt to look at intersection of narratives and networks. 

Lethal: "very potent or effective" (third definition in Merriam-Webster) and potentially "destructive" (second definition in Merriam-Webster).

Narratives: stories (or meta-stories) that reflect identify, offer meaning, weaponized / used with purpose. May be observable--but not necessarily.

LLOs and case studies in plenary.

LLOs, case studies in plenary.

LLOs, case studies in plenary.

LLOs, case studies in plenary.

LLO, case studies in plenary.

Case study in seminar.

Ms. Amanda Nimmer joined Quantum in 2009 and is currently the Director of US Business at Quantum Communications, where she directs the development and implementation of all management aspects of projects for US-based clients.

Nimmer has nearly 15 years of experience working on communications projects in the Middle East and is based between Washington, DC and Beirut. She has developed and managed some of Quantum’s largest projects to date and has extensive experience in business planning covering tv, radio, print and digital.

http://www.quantum.com.lb/

amanda.nimmer@quantumcomusa.com

Case studies, LLOs, discussions in plenary and seminar.

LLOs, case study in seminar.

Dr. Emilia Lahti is an international presenter on topics related to positive psychology, courage, leadership, and inner strength.

Currently, Emilia is pioneering the research on the ancient Finnish construct of 'sisu', denoting courage and determination in the face of adversity and the ability to unlock latent inner strength. Her work has been featured by The New Yorker, Business Insider, Scientific American, BBC, and Forbes among others. Emilia has given talks at Fortune500 companies, social media companies, universities, and more.

About Dr. Lahti:

https://www.emilialahti.com

https://www.emilialahti.com/emilia-lahti

Paper mentioned in podcast: 

Lahti, E., (2019). Embodied fortitude: An introduction to the Finnish construct of sisu. International Journal of Wellbeing, 9(1), 61-82. doi:10.5502/ijw.v9i1.672

https://12bdb885-0c35-5bc9-de68-60b4eea95939.filesusr.com/ugd/de6a2f_a296ed09f8a8425e848f5cd47ce981e4.pdf 

Emilia's TEDx talk:

https://youtu.be/UTIizGyf5kU 

 

Dr. Arturo Muñoz is one of the world’s and one of history’s (a living influential legend and continued strategic thought leader) foremost experts on insurgency and counterinsurgency.

In this rare interview, Dr. Muñoz provides practical, actionable, and intrepid recommendations on information/psychological operations and warfare, strategic communications, and influence in guerrilla warfare and counterinsurgency. Advice for every warfighter and national security professional.

Background on Dr. Arturo Muñoz:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Muñoz_(intelligence)

https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/m/munoz_arturo.html

http://www.tribalanalysiscenter.com/board.html

Case studies, application, LLOs in seminar.