Editorial

Chief Editor Bill Hutchinson asked us some months ago to lead the effort to produce a special issue of this Journal dedicated to the overarching topic of Perception Management.  As members of the Journal’s Advisory Board, we were happy to do so, despite the fact that major new projects rarely arise at the most opportune times.  In addition to our own contributions, we have assembled an international team of exceptional theorists and practitioners from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Sweden. 

Our respective lead articles are intended to set the over-all subject of Perception Management in strategic and operational context from both theoretical and historical perspectives. Doug Dearth’s article sets out a taxonomy or Perception Management within the overall context of Information Operations, suggests historical standards, and criticises the general lack of policy-level appreciation of the principles and challenges Phil Taylor’s article specifically addresses the current Allied counter-terrorism campaign. Andrew Garfield discusses the need for Strategic Influence campaigns to operationalise and co-ordinate the over-all Perception Management effort. Robin Brown analyses Public Diplomacy, while Pierce Reid deals with the Public Relations aspects of Perception Management. Susan Driscoll analyses the nature of media-audience relationships from the academic perspective. Steve Collins and Kristina Riegert deal, in different ways, with the various aspects of the Balkan campaigns of the 1990s, especially as regards Psychological Operations. John Blaxland describes the Information Operations efforts employed by Australia in East Timor, and Leigh Armistead analyses the manner in which American domestic politics has influenced the conduct of Public Diplomacy.
Whilst we have attempted to deal with most of the major aspects of Perception Management, we could not be entirely comprehensive, given limitations of time and publication space. For instance, more attention to Deception would have been useful; and we had to forego the opportunity to deal with recent British IO experiences in Sierra Leone and Macedonia, given that these operations are ongoing. As regards the latter issues, security concerns hopefully will become less sensitive in the coming months, thereby allowing publication in this Journal by the relevant experts.

The Editors of this issue of the Journal of Information Warfare wish to thank Bill Hutchinson for the opportunity to contribute, and we thank our co-contributors for their efforts here, especially given the pressing demands of their various professional endeavours.  We hope these efforts will serve to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing discussion of these important topics.  We look forward to engaging in any dialogue that results from this issue.

Douglas H. Dearth (University of Leeds), Philip M. Taylor King’s College, London

Table of Contents

Paper 1: Shaping the Information Space

Douglas H. Dearth

Paper 2: Perception Management and the ‘War’ Against Terrorism

P.M. Taylor 

Paper 3: The Offence of Strategic Influence: Making the Case for Perception Management

A.Garfield

Paper 4: Information Operations, Public Diplomacy & Spin: The United States & thePolitics of Perception Management

R. Brown

Paper 5: Waging Public Relations: A Cornerstone of Fourth-Generation Warfare

R. P.  Reid

Paper 6: Who’s in Control?: Contemporary Audience-Media Relations and their Implications for Perception Management

S.C. Driscoll

Paper 7:  NATO and Strategic Psyops: Policy Pariah or Growth Industry

S. Collins

Paper 8:  Know Your Enemy; Know Your Allies: Lessons Not Learned from the Kosovo Conflict

K. Riegert

Paper 9: Information-Era Manoeuver: The Australian-Led

J. Blaxland

Paper 10: Fall from Glory: The Demise of the US Information Agency during the Clinton Administration

L. Armistead

About the Authors

LtCdr Leigh Armistead United States Navy, was formerly a Master Faculty at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA, where he was the editor of a new textbook entitled Information Operations: The Hard Reality of Soft Power. He is now the Information Assurance Team Lead for Task Force Web. LtCdr Armistead received a masters degree from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, and currently is enrolled in a PhD program with an emphasis on Information Operations. He is also a graduate of the College of Naval Command and Staff, the Air Force Command and Staff College, and the US Army Combined Arms Service Support School. He presently serves as an Assistant Professor at the American Military University where he teaches a number of courses including information operations, airborne early warning, aviation history and naval strategy related courses. He has published several articles and has participated in numerous IO conferences around the world, in addition to lecturing at the Australian Defence Forces Warfare Centre and the Canadian Forces College Since 2000, he has been selected as a research fellow for the International National Security Studies program at the US Air Force Academy to conduct IO-related research, and has also developed an online IO course for the National Security Agency.

 LtCol John Blaxland is a serving Australian Army Officer assigned as a Visiting Defence Fellow at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He was the Intelligence Officer and principal staff officer responsible for Information Operations in Headquarters 3rd Brigade, 1998 – 99. He is a graduate of the Royal Thai Army Command and Staff College, has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in History from the  University of New South Wales and a Master of Arts degree in History from the Australian National University. His publications include ‘Consolidation and Reorganisation’ in David Horner (ed.) Duty First: The Royal Australian Regiment in War and Peace (1988); Organising an Army: The Australian Experience 1957 to 1965 (1989); and Swift and Sure: A History of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals 1947 –1972  (1999). He recently wrote ‘On Operations in East Timor – The Experiences of the Intelligence Officer, 3rd Brigade’, in Australian  

Robin Brown is a Senior Lecturer in International Communications in the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds he was Chair of the International Communications Section of the International Studies AssociationHis current research interests focus on the impact of new information and communications technologies on international politics.

LtCol Steve Collins, United States Army, currently is assigned to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.  He previously served at Headquarters, United States Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, where his responsibilities include Psychological Operations requirements and capabilities and determining future Psychological Operations force structure for the command.  A career officer, he has held a variety of command and staff positions as an infantry officer and psychological operations officer in the United States and Europe. He has also served as an Assistant Professor in the European History Department at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He has written and lectured widely on the impact of Perception Management and Information Operations in current and future military environments. His most recent article on Army Psychological Operations in Bosnia was published in ParametersLieutenant Colonel Collins is a graduate of West Point and holds a graduate degree in History from Yale

Douglas H. DearthGermany, Northern Ireland, and BelizeAs the Defence Intelligence Staff’s principal Information Warfare Staff Officer, he conducted a major study which resulted in significant innovations in the MoD’s approach to Information Operations analytical and targeting support to operations, including creation of the Information Operations Support Group with dedicated Human Factors and National Infrastructure assessment teams. He also played a key role in the formation of a dedicated Open Source Information Centre in the MoDHe is a graduate of the British Army

R. Pierce Reid was one of the first public relations professionals involved in the Internet and was one of the pioneers in applying consumer PR techniques to high-tech and industrial products Reid began his interest in Information Operations and Psychological Warfare while pursuing an advanced degree in Studies of the Future. He has since lectured on the topic of applying proven business media relations techniques to the Information Operations environment He has been a speaker at InfoWarCon and was Master of Ceremonies for the Norwich University InfoOps 2000 Conference He currently runs a PR consulting firm based in Vermont and is working to expand his IO practice.

Dr. Kristina Riegertis Lecturer and Researcher in Journalism at Södertörn
University College. Her research focuses on comparative broadcasting and the role of the media in identity formation, globalisation and international conflict. She is the author of two studies commissioned by the National Board for Psychological Defence on Information Warfare, Kosovo and the Media. 

Dr. Phillip M. Taylor is Professor of International Communications and Director of the Institute of Communications Studies at the University of Leeds, UK.  His books include War and the Media: Propaganda and Persuasion during the Gulf War (Manchester University Press,1992), Munitions of the Mind: a History of Propaganda from the Ancient World to the Present Day (Manchester University Press, 1995), Global Communications, International Affairs and the Media since 1945 (Routledge, 1997) and British Propaganda in the 20th Century: Selling Democracy (Edinburgh University Press, 1999).  He has lectured regularly to military educational establishments on both sides of the Atlantic,including at SHAPE, USAFSOC and at DISS and JSCSC (UK). He is a Member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Information Warfare.