Nine Four-Star U.S. Generals Send A Request To The U.S. Intelligence Community For Help In The Information War Against Russia And China

Politico: Spy chiefs look to declassify intel after rare plea from 4-star commanders 

Top military leaders said the U.S. is falling behind China and Russia in the information war. 

America’s top spies say they are looking for ways to declassify and release more intelligence about adversaries’ bad behavior, after a group of four-star military commanders sent a rare and urgent plea asking for help in the information war against Russia and China. 

A host of troubling actions from those two countries — including efforts to damage America’s relationships with allies and to violate other countries’ sovereignty — mean the Intelligence Community must do more to show the world what Russia and China are doing, according to the commanders. 

The memo from nine regional military commanders last year implored spy agencies to give them more evidence they can make public as a way to combat "pernicious conduct." 

Only by "waging the truth in the public domain against America’s 21st century challengers” can Washington shore up support from American allies, they said. 

But efforts to compete in the battle of ideas, they added, are hamstrung by overly stringent secrecy practices.  

Read more ....  

Update: Nine US generals send '36-star memo' begging spy chiefs to declassify intelligence showing 'pernicious conduct' by Russia and China (Daily Mail)  

WNU Editor: Where were these Generals when many were calling for the declassification of all intelligence files pertaining to Russia-Gate during the Trump administration? Where were these Generals when many were calling for the release behind the intelligence that claimed Russia meddled in the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections? Where are they with big tech censoring opinions and cancelling accounts that hold views that they disagree with. 

They were and are out of sight and nowhere to be seen. 

And now they are raising the alarm that Russia and China are better at shaping global opinion than the U.S. ?!?!?!? 

This paragraph from Politico best sums it up ....  

.... This battle of ideas is viewed as only widening. In a new threat assessment published this month, the DNI highlighted the aggressive campaigns by both Russia and China to shape global public opinion. 

The information war has been going on for as long as I can remember. It looks like the Pentagon now wants to be a major player in it.

U.S. Defense Intelligence Chief: 'China Plans To Use Information To 'Dominate In The Future'

Washington Examiner: China plans to use information to 'dominate in the future,' says defense intelligence chief

China's government plans to leverage the growing data industry and cutting-edge technologies as part of its strategy to get an edge on its competitors, according to the Department of Defense's intelligence chief.

The data industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, set to reach $100 billion by 2020, and China is laser-focused on using it to its advantage when competing with the U.S., according to Army Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

"[I]nformation is how China plans to dominate in the future. That is their strategy," Ashley said during a keynote address at a conference in Tampa, Florida, on Monday.

"That is their strategy to get behind decision advantage."

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Quoting Francis Bacon .... Knowledge is power, or in this case, data is power.

A NATO 'Red Team' Showed How Easy It Is For Adversaries Like Russia To Use Online Information Against Allied Forces

U.S. Navy/MC1 Samuel Souvannason

Wired: NATO Group Catfished Soldiers to Prove a Point About Privacy

The phony Facebook pages looked just like the real thing. They were designed to mimic pages that service members use to connect. One appeared to be geared toward a large-scale, military exercise in Europe and was populated by a handful of accounts that appeared to be real service members.

In reality, both the pages and the accounts were created and operated by researchers at NATO’s Strategic Communications Center of Excellence, a research group that's affiliated with NATO. They were acting as a "red team" on behalf of the military to test just how much they could influence soldiers’ real-world actions through social media manipulation.

Read more ....

Update: With just $60 and internet access, researchers found and tracked NATO troops and even tricked them into disobeying orders (Business Insider)

WNU Editor: Even though we are told numerous times to not trust social media, people end up trusting social media. In a war-zone .... this will be deadly as this NATO team uncovered.

U.S. Army Prepares For Information Warfare

Cyberwar games at the United States Military Academy.
(Photo: Michael Falco for The New York Times)

Washington Times: Army gears up for info warfare

The Army this month outlined its plan for using modern-day information warfare in future military conflicts as part of new, high-technology warfighting capabilities.

According a new manual, information operations are defined as the use 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.”

Weapons include military information support and deception activities, public affairs work, electronic warfare and cyberoperations.

“Information is an element of combat power,” the manual states.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Russian and Chinese guidelines for conducting information warfare is simple .... do what it takes to win. U.S. Army guidelines .... wait for the lawyers to give their approval. Any bets on who is going to win?