Volume 25, Issue 2

Weaponizing Heritage in Online Cognitive Warfare

Abstract:

This theoretical paper reviews prior research on cognitive warfare and related fields, arguing that modern conflict increasingly targets human cognition and heritage through AI‑enabled information operations. Heritage becomes both a material and symbolic instrument, with disinformation shaping perceptions of its protection or destruction to justify strategic actions. Digital platforms, through influencers, bots, deepfakes, and algorithmic amplification, intensify these tactics by manipulating narratives, identities, and emotions at scale. Such cognitive operations complement kinetic actions, creating fragmented information environments where narrative control may rival territorial control in strategic importance. Emerging threats include cyberattacks on archives and metadata manipulation, underscoring the need for integrated measures that combine technological security with cultural and societal resilience.

Disrupting the Nation as Self: Russia’s Attack on Ukrainian Ontological Security through Information Warfare

Abstract:

Existing research in the field of Ontological Security Theory (OST) within international relations (IR) explores the self in relation to the identity of the individual and of statehood. This article conceptualizes Russian Information Warfare (RIW), premised on OST, as the method utilized in its information-psychological operations against states. Russia seeks to redefine the identity of states through societal erosion, committing historical revisionism, while replacing existing international structures with a civilizational multipolar worldview. From this perspective, Russia conducts information operations against Ukraine, waging RIW against democratic values and the minds of the people, regardless of combatant status.

Published In

Volume 25, Issue 2

Written By

Ocean Celestino

Craig Douglas Albert

Keywords

Russian Information Warfare

Ontological Security Theory

Identity

Ukraine War

Historical Revisionism

Civilizational Multipolar Worldview

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Digital Technologies and Security: Towards a Recomposition of the Strategic Field of Information Warfare?

Abstract:

Digital technologies are often described as transforming security and war, yet their strategic effects remain contested. This article argues that cyber capabilities and related digital infrastructures are better understood as recomposing the strategic field rather than inaugurating a discrete Revolution in Military Affairs. Drawing on large-N datasets of interstate cyber incidents, illustrative case studies, and policy and doctrinal documents, it traces how digital tools reshape instruments of coercion, diversify relevant actors beyond states, and blur domestic and external spaces of security. The analysis highlights governance dilemmas for deterrence, alliance coordination, and the regulation of platform power.

Published In

Volume 25, Issue 2

Written By

Tewfik Hamel

Keywords

Military Transformation

Hybrid Threats

Cognitive Security

Strategic Competition

Military Expenditure

Arms Industry

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Operationalising Intelligence Support to Information Operations: A Training Framework Derived from Live Environment Training

Abstract:

Recent doctrinal change frames information as a dynamic of combat power and calls on commanders to create and to exploit information advantage across all operations. Intelligence structures, however, remain largely optimised for kinetic targeting and physical terrain. This paper examines how a U.S. Army Theater Information Operations Group used four Live Environment Training (LET) deployments to develop and to refine a model for Intelligence Support to Information Operations (ISIO). The study describes how operational observations informed the development of a mission-essential task (MET), supporting subtasks, and a Training and Evaluation Outline (T&EO) for ISIO. It then outlines a practical training framework that links doctrine, METL-based tasks, and scenario-based exercises driven by open-source intelligence (OSINT). The result is a repeatable approach to building intelligence teams capable of enabling information advantage rather than servicing only traditional targeting requirements.

Published In

Volume 25, Issue 2

Written By

Amy Forza

Keywords

Information Advantage

Intelligence Support to Information Operations

Mission Essential Task List

Live Environment Training

Information Warfare

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System Reliability Analysis: Impact of Structural Anomalies in State Voter Registration Systems

Abstract:

This analysis examines fundamental reliability issues in state voter registration systems stemming from structural database anomalies and record reconciliation failures. Research reveals systemic inconsistencies that impair basic database functionality, including irreconcilable discrepancies between state and county voting records, widespread record duplication (cloning), retroactive historical modifications, and algorithmically obscured data relationships. These issues create mathematical uncertainties in both individual and aggregate voter participation records that cannot be resolved through standard auditing procedures. The cumulative effect renders these systems incapable of reliably performing their core function of accurately tracking voter participation, independent of the original causes of these anomalies.