A playbook for characterization of multi-domain information

Abstract

A recent publication entitled, “The US Army in Multi-Domain Operations 2028”1 stated that the current strategic environment is characterized by continuous competition involving “great powers”, particularly China and Russia, which challenge in all domains and leverage the “competition” space to achieve operational and strategic objectives. For example, diplomatic, economic actions, information warfare, unconventional and conventional operations are being integrated to fracture alliances (e.g., NATO) and partnerships. In the transition from “competition” to conflict, space, cyber, electromagnetic and information would be integrated to create standoff in order to separate friendly forces over time, space and function. In response to the realization that information has significant impacts on national security (e.g., foreign manipulation of elections), Information was declared the 7th joint warfighting function. Information Operations is a subset of the Information function focused on the employment of military capabilities to change adversary behavior. Operating successfully requires the ability to characterize and assess the impact of various actions, messages, events on actors, communities and a mastery of the tools, techniques and activities to affect the dimension of the information environment (individuals, organizations and systems that collect, process, disseminate or act on information).2 This paper will introduce a Playbook concept to enable successful operations in the Information Environment (IE) based on the characterization of multiple domain information using the BEND framework3, extended beyond Social Media to encompass Information Domains or Information Related Capabilities (IRC). An example of Playbooks based on a historical scenario will be provided. Exemplars of analytics to support IE characterization will be included, along with a discussion of remaining research gaps.