MR1033 Chap1
MR1033 Chap1
MR1033 Chap1
Something unsettling is happening to grand strategy. National security experts have long based their calculations on the traditional
political, economic, and military dimensions of power. Now they see
that a new field is emerging: information strategy. Although still
inchoate, it promises to redefine these three traditional dimensions.
Moreover, it promises to seed the creation of a fourththe
information dimension, which is broadly understood to include
technological conduits and conceptual contents. The world is turning anew into a highly charged battleground of ideas; it is not just a
world in which material resources are the objects of protracted, often
violent competition. In this emerging world, the key to success will
likely lie in managing informational capabilities and resources skillfullyi.e., strategically.
Information strategy remains difficult to define and bound with precision, but the issues and debates shaping its appeal have been clustering around two poles for the past several years. One pole is basically technological: that of cyberspace safety and security. What
drives concerns here is a sense of the vulnerability of essential U.S.
information infrastructures to various forms of attack, especially by
malicious actors who are skilled at launching cyberspace-based
threats. Worrying how to defend against attacks by adversarial
regimes, terrorists, and criminals, and wondering how to use cyberspace for counteroffensive attacksthat is what this pole is
largely about. (See Hundley and Anderson, 1994; Molander, Riddile,
and Wilson, 1996; and Campen, Dearth, and Goodden, 1996.)
basis for information strategy writ large. Analysts must look beyond
infrastructure defense; more is at stake in cyberspace than just technological vulnerability. They must look beyond risks, too, to help
clarify the opportunities.
Meanwhile, less attention has been given to the development of soft
power as a basis for information strategy. Strategists rarely convene
to discuss it, and its influence is measured mainly by a small number
of publications. True, there have been numerous conferences and
studies about the changing roles of the media, public diplomacy, and
intelligence in the information age. But a strategist interested in soft
power as a basis for information strategy must pull these pieces togetherthey are rarely presented and analyzed as a coherent whole.
The options in this area are not spelled out very well.
More to the point, the communities of experts associated with either
the technological or the idea-sharing area do not meet much with
those of the other. Both communities are aware of each other and
share some common notions. For example, both communities presumably agree (with Nye and Owens, 1996, p. 35) that
[i]nformation is the new coin of the international realm, and the
United States is better positioned than any other country to multiply the potency of its hard and soft power resources through information.
will neither threaten nor spark reactions. In the event that diplomatic strategy fails to prevent conflict, our view is that information
weapons will have great effects upon the future face of battle. With
this in mind, we advance some doctrinal strategies that strive to reconcile the pragmatic need to strike powerfully with the ethical imperative to wage war justly.
Our study includes recommendations for policy, ranging from highlevel emphasis on supporting the emergence of a global noosphere,
to institutional recommendations that, for example, the U.S. military
should begin to develop its own noosphere (among and between the
services, as well as with U.S. friends and allies). In the area of international cooperation, we offer recommendations for strategic approaches to influencebut not alienatethe state and nonstate actors of the noosphere. Finally, we recommend specific doctrine
related to information strategyincluding the pressing need to deal
with such ethical concerns as the first use of information weapons,
concepts of proportional response, and the need to maintain, to the
greatest extent possible, the immunity of noncombatants.
From these beginnings, we hope that an articulated, integrated, U.S.
information strategy will emerge.