File:Blogs and Military Information Strategy.pdf

Blogs and Military Information Strategy

Published by the joint Special Operations University - June 2006

From the Introduction

The rise of military bloggers from deployed areas such as Iraq has raised concerns with U.S. Department of Defense officials that information posted in a blog could compromise operations security (OPSEC). Stars and Stripes, a newspaper that caters to the overseas military personnel, quoted a recent memo from the Army Chief of Staff, General Peter Schoomaker: :“The enemy aggressively ‘reads’ our open source and continues to exploit such information for use against our forces... Some soldiers continue to post sensitive information to Internet Web sites and blogs. … Such OPSEC violations needlessly place lives at risk and degrade the effectiveness of our operations.” ^[1]

This paper explores the possibility of incorporating blogs and blogging into military information strategy, primarily as a tool for influence. Towards that end, we examine the value of blogs as targets of and/or platforms for military influence operations and supporting intelligence operations. Influence operations are a subset of information operations (IO) that includes the core capabilities of Psychological Operations (PSYOP) and Military Deception (MILDEC), and the related capabilities of Public Affairs (PA), Military Support to Public Diplomacy (PD) and Civil Affairs/Civil-Military Operations (CA/CMO).

To evaluate the IO potential for blogs, we seek answers to two questions:

1. Are blogs truly influential, and if so, in what manner?
2. Does the information environment support blogging as part of an information campaign?

Before addressing these questions, however, we first review the nature and structure of the blogsphere.

References