https://crsreports.congress.gov
Updated December 1, 2021
Defense Primer: Information Operations
Information Warfare
While there is currently no official U.S. government (USG)
definition of information warfare (IW), practitioners
typically conceptualize it as a strategy for the use and
management of information to pursue a competitive
advantage, including both offensive and defensive
operations. Strategy can be defined as the process of
planning to achieve objectives and goals in the national
interest. Operations link strategic objectives with tactics,
techniques, and procedures. For IW strategy, that link is
information operations (IO).
Information Operations
Past definitions within the DOD have conceptualized IO as
a purely military activity involving a set of tactics or
capabilities. In DOD Joint Publication (JP) 3-13 and the IO
Roadmap, IO consisted of five pillars: computer network
operations (CNO), which include computer network attack,
computer network defense, and computer network
exploitation; psychological operations (PSYOP); electronic
warfare (EW); operations security (OPSEC); and military
deception (MILDEC). With the advent of U.S. Cyber
Command, CNO became cyberspace operations, offensive
and defensive with its own doctrine in JP 3-12. In 2010,
PSYOP became military information support operations
(MISO), to reflect a broader range of activities and the
existing Military Information Support Teams consisting of
PSYOP personnel deployed at U.S. embassies overseas.
Joint Publication 3-13.2 replaced the term PSYOP with
MISO to “more accurately reflect and convey the nature of
planned peacetime or combat operations activities.” The
name change reportedly caused administrative confusion,
and the services are beginning to revert to the PSYOP label.
The Secretary of Defense characterizes IO in JP 3-13 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 definition shifted the focus
from a set of tactics toward the desired effects and how to
achieve them. JP 3-13 defines information-related
capability (IRC) as a tool, technique, or activity employed
within a dimension of the information environment that can
be used to create effects and operationally desirable
conditions.
Strategic communication, public diplomacy and public and
civil affairs, and cyberspace operations may be considered
supporting capabilities. These efforts may take place in and
throughout each of the global domains of air, land, sea,
space, and cyberspace, and in various forms unrelated to
cyberspace such as dropping pamphlets, cultural exchanges,
jamming or broadcasting targeted communications, and
foreign aid programs. Military Information Support
Operations are one of Special Operations Forces’ (SOF’s)
core activities, but IO is not the exclusive purview of SOF.
All of these activities take place within the information
environment, which is the aggregate of individuals,
organizations, and systems that collect, disseminate, or act
on information. This consists of three dimensions: the
physical dimension, where information overlaps with the
physical world; the information dimension, where
information is collected, processed, stored, disseminated,
displayed, and protected, including both the content and the
flow of information between nodes; and the cognitive
dimension, where human decisionmaking takes place based
upon how information is perceived. All instruments of
national power—diplomatic, informational, military, and
economic (DIME)—can be projected and employed in the
information environment, and by nonmilitary elements of
the federal government.
Types of Information
In common parlance, the term “disinformation campaign” is
often used interchangeably with information operations.
However, disinformation or deception is only one of the
informational tools that comprise an IW strategy; factual
information can also be used to achieve strategic goals and
in some cases more effectively than deceptive means.
Different categories of information that may be used in IO
include the following:
Propaganda: This means the propagation of an idea or
narrative that is intended to influence, similar to
psychological or influence operations. It can be misleading
but true, and may include stolen information. A government
communicating its intent, policies, and values through
speeches, press releases, and other public affairs can be
considered propaganda.
Misinformation: This is the spreading of unintentionally
false information. Examples include Internet trolls who
spread unfounded conspiracy theories or web hoaxes
through social media, believing them to be true.
Disinformation: Unlike misinformation, disinformation is
intentionally false. Examples include planting false news
stories in the media and tampering with private and/or
classified communications before their widespread release.
Cyber-Enabled Information Operations
Cyberspace presents a force multiplier for IW activities.
Social media and botnets can amplify a message or
narrative, using all three elements of information to foment
discord and confusion in a target audience. Much of today’s
IO is conducted in cyberspace, leading many to associate
IO with cybersecurity. Within DOD, however, IO and
cyberspace operations are distinct doctrinal activities.
