Wars – in the future – may not just be fought with weapons and physical strength. There was a time when armies could only kill or harm enemies they could see or touch. Not anymore. The enemy today doesn’t have to be in our line of sight or someone we have ever met or might – even in the future. We are targeting an unknown enemy or stranger – 100s or maybe 1000s of miles away. The idea behind all this is to shatter the enemy’s decision-making capacity and influence the decisions and behavior of individuals, groups, and entire nations – without firing the first bullet.
Its biggest plus point is that it is a cost-effective way to prevent collateral damage and friendly casualties.
Recent advances in information technology, satellites, smartphone, and social media have added a new dimension to war. The result is that the modern-day battlefield has become global and seamless with no beginning, end, or ceasefire – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week… It is always active – anywhere, everywhere, anytime.
Modern-day researchers are burning the midnight oil to develop an entirely new kind of combat to target and control the human mind — the human body’s intelligence and the decision-making hub that controls all senses, body movements, and behavior.
This relatively new dimension of warfare is called cognitive warfare or ‘Battle for the brain’ which heavily relies on a deep understanding of human psychology and behavior to influence, disrupt, and degrade the enemy’s ability to make decisions while protecting friendly forces.
Cognitive warfare is a new concept that has gained traction in recent years and has all it takes to outmaneuver even the most sophisticated military operations.
What is cognitive warfare?
Cognitive warfare is a new type of warfare that seeks to ‘kill’ or neutralize the enemy’s decision-making ability rather than harm their physical abilities.
Broadly speaking cognitive warfare has five main objectives. These include:
- Eroding the command, control, and authority of the enemy’s leadership
- Corrupting their credibility as well as the ability to take quick and timely decisions
- Shield or insulate friendly Commanders and combatants
- Collect and analyze all information and intelligence
- Spread misinformation to play on the adversary’s fear, and anxieties to demoralize them
Cognitive warfare – is bloodless but extremely
The goal of cognitive warfare is to decisively overpower and paralyze the enemy’s mind and make them surrender or lose the battle – even before firing the first and only bullet.
Cognitive warfare also known as mind warfare in principle involves targeting the enemy’s mind and using all kinds of psychological tactics to influence the decisions, beliefs, and behavior of the enemy Generals, commanders remotely controlling the battlefield operations, subalterns in the field, and soldiers down the line. It is a dangerous Molotov cocktail that includes psychological operations, propaganda, deception, and other techniques to influence morale and manipulate the way the enemy thinks and acts.
The history of cognitive warfare
Cognitive warfare is a relatively new concept that has evolved in the past few decades. It can be defined as the use of information and psychological operations to influence the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors of adversaries in order to achieve specific objectives.
Its roots can be traced to propaganda and psychological warfare techniques used in past conflicts. Cognitive warfare elevates these methods to the next level with the help of cutting-edge technology and social media.
One of the earliest examples of cognitive warfare was Operation Mockingbird in which the United States government and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched a massive propaganda campaign against the Soviet Union. As a part of this operation, the CIA spread disinformation and planted false stories in the media. Several top American journalists were specially roped in and paid lavishly to influence public opinion internationally. According to reports the CIA instructed its stations around the world to especially cultivate politicians and editors to answer and refute negative opinions. The CIA also leaked classified information to journalists to help them write articles promoting its cause.
Cognitive warfare was also used in the Iraq War and the War on Terror. In both cases, Western governments used all kinds of propaganda, psychological operations, misinformation, and mind control gimmicks to twist facts in their favor.
The ongoing Ukraine war is another example of how Russia has lost the war in people’s minds – even before being knocked out on the ground in the war where a deadly combination of cognitive warfare tactics, propaganda, information warfare, and social media have been used to reach out and paint the town red at a lightning speed for audiences all over the world.
The US has a monopoly over social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and others which gives it the edge to strategically communicate and garner support for the US-led sanctions. Even the Ukrainians are seemingly more internet and social media friendly as compared to the Russians, This is why they dominate the cognitive warfare and perception management campaign on social media. Zelensky being a former TV actor knows how to project Russia in poor light and make dramatic emotional appeals for help and assistance to the international community. On the other hand, the Russians are unable to tell their own story and no one in the world community seems to be interested in helping them do so. The US-owned TV channels are magnifying the Russian atrocities and screaming at the top of their voice, while the Russian side of the story is hardly getting any coverage.
The pros and cons of cognitive warfare
Cognitive warfare is the use of military force to achieve the desired outcome through the exploitation of the adversary’s decision-making process. This can be done by manipulating what the adversary perceives, believes, or values. In other words, cognitive warfare aims to change an adversary’s perceptions in order to influence their decision-making.
There are both pros and cons to using cognitive warfare. On the plus side, cognitive warfare can be very effective in achieving military objectives with minimal loss of life. It can also be used as a tool for deterrence, as it can make an opponent believe that the costs of taking military action against you are too high. Additionally, cognitive warfare can be used to create confusion and chaos within an enemy camp, making them more vulnerable to attack.
Conclusion
The writing on the wall is quite clear, cognitive warfare is here to stay and will likely play a decisive role in future conflicts where AI-enabled bots may be used to spread disinformation and sow discord among the enemy ranks. AI has the potential to analyze large volumes of data to identify trends that can be exploited for strategic advantage.
Cognitive warfare will change the way nations fight wars in the digital battlefield, where the human brain is the most targeted asset for turning defeat into victory.
Scientists even today are burning the midnight oil to develop an entirely new kind of combat to target and control the human mind — the intelligence and the decision-making hub that controls all senses, body movements, and behavior.
Nations are now investing heavily in research and development to understand how to use the human brain to their advantage in warfare.
As they say – survival of the fittest. Nations will have to stay ahead of the learning curve. The sooner they do so – the better it will be. The ones who fail, may lose out and get left behind.
-The writer is a seasoned media professional with over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and web media. He is presently Editor of Taazakhabar News
