Posted on Jun 25, 2018
DIME, not DiME: Time to Align the Instruments of U.S. Informational Power
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"Information operations include electronic warfare, computer network operations, operations security, military deception, and psychological operations. (The last two make many public diplomacy and public affairs practitioners blanch, but they need to join rather than turn away from the debate.) Scholars and practitioners much discuss terminology, with different specialists and different commands preferring influence or strategic communications. The Marine Corps now uses “operations in the information environment.”[19]
The public affairs and information operations specialists in the Department of Defense are well trained at their schoolhouses, but in my experience they exemplify a culture that incentivizes going it alone. Unaware of parallel work by others, they miss opportunities for cooperation.[20] Few armed forces practitioners, for instance, understand how to make working with an embassy a route to success.
Public diplomacy at an embassy, in its Public Affairs Section, already has contacts in the media and society, knowledge of local patterns of communication, employees who understand different social and political groups, and bilingual staff. The embassy can flag local sensitivities and brief commanders who meet the press. The public affairs outcome for a visit or deployment will always be better if it is worked together with the public diplomacy people at an embassy. What’s true for public affairs applies to information operations as well."
The public affairs and information operations specialists in the Department of Defense are well trained at their schoolhouses, but in my experience they exemplify a culture that incentivizes going it alone. Unaware of parallel work by others, they miss opportunities for cooperation.[20] Few armed forces practitioners, for instance, understand how to make working with an embassy a route to success.
Public diplomacy at an embassy, in its Public Affairs Section, already has contacts in the media and society, knowledge of local patterns of communication, employees who understand different social and political groups, and bilingual staff. The embassy can flag local sensitivities and brief commanders who meet the press. The public affairs outcome for a visit or deployment will always be better if it is worked together with the public diplomacy people at an embassy. What’s true for public affairs applies to information operations as well."
DIME, not DiME: Time to Align the Instruments of U.S. Informational Power
Posted from thestrategybridge.org
Influence
Diplomacy
37F: Psychological Operations Specialist
37A: Psychological Operations
Posted >1 y ago
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In today’s operational environment it is important to have a synchronized information strategy; all stakeholders need to shake hands, bump fists, or something and unified their message rather than bump heads when is time to act. And the time is now! The Department of Defense (DoD) needs to articulate its stance in the information domain/environment. For the most part the folks at the Department of State and its Foreign Service think about when you mention any DoD effort is a blown-up door tailed by a fragmentary grenade and trailed by a 5-6 men stack; or something of that matter. But DoD is more than that. That is a self-inflicted wound if you ask me. DoD (for this argument I will focus strictly on the US Army) has in the past established efforts to overcome this hurdle. In the not too far past the US Army established the short lived Military Information Support Command (MISOC) under the US Army Special Operations Command. Its mission was to provide fully capable Military Information Support (MIS) forces to Combatant Commanders, U.S. Ambassadors, and other agencies to synchronize plans and execute inform and influence activities (IIA) across the range of military operations. As the parent organ origination for the Army’s only active component PSYOP groups (4th and 8th PO GRPs) and a separate Production and Dissemination (P&D) BN, it was well positioned to close the gap between DoD and other government agencies in the information environment across the spectrum of operations. Nevertheless, during USASOC’s reorganization in ’13 - ‘15 it was deactivated. A lot of initiatives in the right directions became part of history.
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I recognize the need to work with the PAO, or public affairs, but in my experience as a information 3 guy 7 that f most people are too hellbent at the look at me approach or just trying to meet a deadline that is inconceivable. On top of that ..from the influence side of the house...it is next to impossible to stay on par with the likes of Russia, China, Iran, and every other countries when I have to jump through 10-15 flaming hoops of CYA's to get to the gander finale.
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LTC Eric Udouj
Its those CYAs that in themselves deny us the ability to be able to do more than inform... and or provide items that will be ignored by target audience. We also have a bad habit of forgetting that we do not need to target a population.. only a specific audience with in it of key communicators. No one yet has ever been able to target a whole target audience population and be effective.. But that said - the times when had an awesome PAO working in our group and who understood that aspect of the whole --- really did make a difference, Very much agree with you SSG Hamilton.
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