PRISM, a part of the Institute for National Strategic Studies, is located at the National Defense University in Washington D.C. The congressionally mandated Center for Complex Operations (CCO) was established within the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University in February 2009.
Its purpose is to address a widely perceived need for improved interagency interoperability in analysis of, planning for, and intervening in complex operations worldwide.
Operating as usual
As American forces leave Afghanistan after 20 years, there is no point in lamenting, whining, blamestorming or proposing alternative endings, writes PRISM Editor-in-Chief Michael Miklaucic in his July 20 opinion piece in The Hill, "Letting go with a win and moving on from Afghanistan."
Converting Afghanistan into a well-governed, pro-Western state was a fantasy, so America did not lose its war.
This C4ISRNET article, "How to Protect Troops from an Assault in the Cognitive Domain" by Jan Kallberg and Col. Stephen Hamilton was published las year, but remains salient! https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2020/11/04/how-to-protect-troops-from-an-assault-in-the-cognitive-domain/
Social media has presented an opportunity for our adversaries to present a plethora of information that is meant to persuade our force.
“Chinese investments in Africa have multiplied in recent years, especially since the 2013 launch of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI). But China has realized that it is a mistake to entrust security and development to trade alone.” Read more in César Pintado's article "Chinese Mercenaries in Africa' in the 5 June issue of Small Wars Journal at https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/chinese-mercenaries-africa
“Chinese investments in Africa have multiplied in recent years, especially since the 2013 launch of the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI). But China has realized that it is a mistake to entrust security and development to trade alone.” Read more in César Pintado's article "Chinese Mercenaries in Africa' in the 5 June issue of Small Wars Journal at https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/chinese-mercenaries-africa
New book alert! "The PLA Beyond Borders" from @ndupress covers #China’s military ops in the #IndoPacific and its expanding overseas reach. Visit the book site at https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Publications/Books/PLA-Beyond-Borders/ to read the free, full-text PDF or to order complimentary print copies. #INSS #NDUPress #PLABeyondBorders
New book alert! "The PLA Beyond Borders" from @ndupress covers #China’s military ops in the #IndoPacific and its expanding overseas reach. Visit the book site at https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Publications/Books/PLA-Beyond-Borders/ to read the free, full-text PDF or to order complimentary print copies. #INSS #NDUPress #PLABeyondBorders
Iran's ongoing and multifaceted campaigns of disinformation and carefully curated messages—coordinated with Russian and Venezuelan state media companies and thousands of allied Internet and social media accounts—pose a strategic challenge to U.S. interests and regional efforts to promote stability, democratic values, and the rule of law. Read "Iran in Latin America: Malign Alliances, 'Super Spreaders,' and Alternative Narratives," by Douglas Farah and Alexa Tavarez in INSS's Strategic Perspectives 34.
Iran
Sarah Jacobs Gamberini is a Policy Fellow at the National Defense University (NDU) Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CSWMD). Her research includes quantum sensing, influence operations, and information warfare activities with a focus on understanding the intersections of disinformation and WMD. In her recent report on Social Media Weaponization, Gamberini describes the methods and goals of Russia’s influence operations and assesses the implications for targeting matters of public health like COVID-19 and the vaccination debate. At NDU, she teaches a course on WMD and Mass Media which provides a baseline understanding of WMD threats with an emphasis on media literacy in a post-truth world. Sarah Gamberini also chairs the monthly CSWMD Spotlight Speaker Series featuring thought leaders on a range of WMD topics.
Most recent publications:
Gamberini, S.J. (2021). Arms Control in Today’s (Dis)information Environment: (Dis)trust and Verify? Inkstick. Link: https://inkstickmedia.com/arms-control-in-todays-disinformation-environment-part-i/ The next generation of arms control negotiators and implementors will face a drastically different, more complicated and contentious information environment than when the United States last negotiated a strategic nuclear arms control agreement (New START) in 2009. In the past decade, disinformation has been used to undermine arms control norms and institutions. The United States needs to ask the question: Can it engage in arms control negotiations with a party that seems willing to “trust but verify” on one arms control agreement while actively undermining others? This is the first in series of papers for Inkstick on Arms Control in Today’s (Dis)information Environment with my National Defense University Institute for National Security Studies colleagues Dr. Justin Anderson and Dr. Jaclyn Kerr. Our goal is to contribute to a discussion about how disinformation could play a role in future arms control treaties and agreements.
Gamberini, S.J. (2020). Social Media Weaponization: The Biohazards of Russian Disinformation Campaigns. Joint Force Quarterly. Link:https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/jfq/jfq-99/jfq-99.pdf
Gamberini, S.J. & Rubin, L. (2021). Quantum Sensing's Potential Impacts on Strategic Deterrence and Modern Warfare. Orbis: Foreign Policy Research Institute Journal of World Affairs. Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0030438721000120?via%3Dihub
If you are interested in being featured or wish to nominate someone, please email Michael Miklaucic at [email protected].
Sarah Jacobs Gamberini is a Policy Fellow at the National Defense University (NDU) Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CSWMD). Her research includes quantum sensing, influence operations, and information warfare activities with a focus on understanding the intersections of disinformation and WMD. In her recent report on Social Media Weaponization, Gamberini describes the methods and goals of Russia’s influence operations and assesses the implications for targeting matters of public health like COVID-19 and the vaccination debate. At NDU, she teaches a course on WMD and Mass Media which provides a baseline understanding of WMD threats with an emphasis on media literacy in a post-truth world. Sarah Gamberini also chairs the monthly CSWMD Spotlight Speaker Series featuring thought leaders on a range of WMD topics.
Most recent publications:
Gamberini, S.J. (2021). Arms Control in Today’s (Dis)information Environment: (Dis)trust and Verify? Inkstick. Link: https://inkstickmedia.com/arms-control-in-todays-disinformation-environment-part-i/ The next generation of arms control negotiators and implementors will face a drastically different, more complicated and contentious information environment than when the United States last negotiated a strategic nuclear arms control agreement (New START) in 2009. In the past decade, disinformation has been used to undermine arms control norms and institutions. The United States needs to ask the question: Can it engage in arms control negotiations with a party that seems willing to “trust but verify” on one arms control agreement while actively undermining others? This is the first in series of papers for Inkstick on Arms Control in Today’s (Dis)information Environment with my National Defense University Institute for National Security Studies colleagues Dr. Justin Anderson and Dr. Jaclyn Kerr. Our goal is to contribute to a discussion about how disinformation could play a role in future arms control treaties and agreements.
Gamberini, S.J. (2020). Social Media Weaponization: The Biohazards of Russian Disinformation Campaigns. Joint Force Quarterly. Link:https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/jfq/jfq-99/jfq-99.pdf
Gamberini, S.J. & Rubin, L. (2021). Quantum Sensing's Potential Impacts on Strategic Deterrence and Modern Warfare. Orbis: Foreign Policy Research Institute Journal of World Affairs. Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0030438721000120?via%3Dihub
If you are interested in being featured or wish to nominate someone, please email Michael Miklaucic at [email protected].
Join the NDU Foundation on May 20th at 2pm in their second National Security Briefing of 2021! Focusing on Ethical AI and National Security, the webinar will feature experts Graham Gilmer, Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Alka Patel, Head of AI Ethics Policy at the DoD’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.
Learn more about the event: https://ndufoundation.org/event/ethical-artificial-intelligence-national-security
Ready to attend? Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5024682791788011533
Join the NDU Foundation on May 20th at 2pm in their second National Security Briefing of 2021! Focusing on Ethical AI and National Security, the webinar will feature experts Graham Gilmer, Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Alka Patel, Head of AI Ethics Policy at the DoD’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.
Learn more about the event: https://ndufoundation.org/event/ethical-artificial-intelligence-national-security
Ready to attend? Register here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/5024682791788011533
“Gray Zone tactics are becoming more and more prevalent, especially at the hands of Iran and its militias. As demonstrated with the U.S.’ airstrikes against facilities belonging to Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria, the U.S. is struggling to tread the delicate line between punishing Iran for their actions and avoiding a war in the region." See
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-syria-strike/exclusive-u-s-carries-out-airstrike-against-iranian-backed-militia-target-in-syria-officials-idUSKBN2AP33D?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2002.26.21&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief
Photo caption: Biden’s first airstrikes target Iran-backed militias in Syria. US AIR FORCE
“Gray Zone tactics are becoming more and more prevalent, especially at the hands of Iran and its militias. As demonstrated with the U.S.’ airstrikes against facilities belonging to Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria, the U.S. is struggling to tread the delicate line between punishing Iran for their actions and avoiding a war in the region." See
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-syria-strike/exclusive-u-s-carries-out-airstrike-against-iranian-backed-militia-target-in-syria-officials-idUSKBN2AP33D?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2002.26.21&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief
Photo caption: Biden’s first airstrikes target Iran-backed militias in Syria. US AIR FORCE
By now, many of us are already experiencing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to 5G technology. Even my personal smartphone occasionally flashes up the 5G symbol when I’m streaming something or using a web application. Unfortunately for me, I don’t see too much of a difference between 4G and 5G networking, but again, most of us only get to see the tiniest bit of what 5G can offer.
Read More at: https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021/04/why-military-leading-charge-5g/173534/
For opposing views on the Huawei 5G controversy see;
The Worst Possible Day: U.S. Telecommunications and Huawei, By Thomas Donahue (PRISM V.8,N.3)
Don’t Trust Anyone: The ABCs of Building Resilient Telecommunications Networks, By Andy Purdy, Vladimir M. Yordanov, and Yair Kler (PRISM V.9,N.1)
What do you think; should we ban Huawei from our 5G infrastructure? ([email protected])
It’s not unlike the way that the armed forces invested in radar technology during World War II.
The Pentagon’s top IT office is considering establishing a portfolio management office dedicated to accelerating the adoption of zero-trust cybersecurity architectures, a senior IT official told Congress April14. Read more at: https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2021/04/15/the-pentagons-next-move-in-expanding-zero-trust/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2004.16.21&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief
The U.S Department of Defense wants to take further steps to advance zero-trust cybersecurity architectures across the department.
“The Defense Innovation Unit received nearly 1,000 proposals in response to its solicitations last year, another sign that the Pentagon’s outreach to commercial industry is bearing fruit.” Read more in Jon Harper's April 5th article in National Defense Magazine at https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2021/4/5/commercial-interest-grows-in-defense-innovation-unit?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EBB%2004.06.21&utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief
Commercial Interest Grows in Defense Innovation Unit
Richard B. Andres is a Full Professor of National Security Strategy at the U.S. National War College, where he teaches courses on strategy development and cyber policy. Across his career, he has served as a personal consultant on strategy to the Director of the National Security Agency-U.S. Cyber Command; the Secretary of the Air Force; the Commandant of the Marine Corps and other national leaders. He has led strategy development teams for the Bush and Obama White Houses, various combatant commands, and other government and private organizations. Dr. Andres holds faculty positions related to cyber strategy at Georgetown University SSP and Johns Hopkins SAIS. He is a senior fellow at Auburn University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security and sits on various think tank and laboratory boards.
This semester, professor Richard Andres and PRISM editor Michael Miklaucic teamed up to offer PME's first graduate seminar on the geoeconomic competition between the United States and China over 5G wireless technology. The cutting-edge course examines a dynamic in which China's ruling party subsidizes Huawei, which then sells its 5G technology at a loss in order to increase China's control over global information networks. The course's key themes include explorations of geoeconomic competition between pure-market and state-market economies, the role of information in the 4th Industrial Revolution, and the dynamics of the technology race between the United States and China. According to professor Andres and Miklaucic, the course intentionally has a ripped-from-the-headlines character combining theoretical economics with weekly briefs from the world's leading thinkers on the US-China 5G contest. "When we were designing the course," professor Andres said, "we were afraid students might find it a bit too edgy or niche. As it turned out, it's one of the more popular courses at the university. It looks like the next generation of U.S. leaders are as interested as we are in the geoeconomic competition between the U.S. and China."
Two of Dr. Andres' publications are being featured today:
Richard B. Andres, "Emerging Critical Information Technology and Great Power Competition," in Tom Lynch ed., Strategic Assessment 2020: Into a New Era of Great Power Competition, (Washington, DC: NDU Press 2020). Available at: https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/2404326/6-emerging-critical-information-technology-and-great-power-competition/
Richard B. Andres, "Inverted-militarized-diplomacy: how states bargain with cyber weapons." Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 15 (2014): 119. Available at:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292126817_Inverted-Militarized_Cyber_Diplomacy
Richard B. Andres is a Full Professor of National Security Strategy at the U.S. National War College, where he teaches courses on strategy development and cyber policy. Across his career, he has served as a personal consultant on strategy to the Director of the National Security Agency-U.S. Cyber Command; the Secretary of the Air Force; the Commandant of the Marine Corps and other national leaders. He has led strategy development teams for the Bush and Obama White Houses, various combatant commands, and other government and private organizations. Dr. Andres holds faculty positions related to cyber strategy at Georgetown University SSP and Johns Hopkins SAIS. He is a senior fellow at Auburn University's Center for Cyber and Homeland Security and sits on various think tank and laboratory boards.
This semester, professor Richard Andres and PRISM editor Michael Miklaucic teamed up to offer PME's first graduate seminar on the geoeconomic competition between the United States and China over 5G wireless technology. The cutting-edge course examines a dynamic in which China's ruling party subsidizes Huawei, which then sells its 5G technology at a loss in order to increase China's control over global information networks. The course's key themes include explorations of geoeconomic competition between pure-market and state-market economies, the role of information in the 4th Industrial Revolution, and the dynamics of the technology race between the United States and China. According to professor Andres and Miklaucic, the course intentionally has a ripped-from-the-headlines character combining theoretical economics with weekly briefs from the world's leading thinkers on the US-China 5G contest. "When we were designing the course," professor Andres said, "we were afraid students might find it a bit too edgy or niche. As it turned out, it's one of the more popular courses at the university. It looks like the next generation of U.S. leaders are as interested as we are in the geoeconomic competition between the U.S. and China."
Two of Dr. Andres' publications are being featured today:
Richard B. Andres, "Emerging Critical Information Technology and Great Power Competition," in Tom Lynch ed., Strategic Assessment 2020: Into a New Era of Great Power Competition, (Washington, DC: NDU Press 2020). Available at: https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/2404326/6-emerging-critical-information-technology-and-great-power-competition/
Richard B. Andres, "Inverted-militarized-diplomacy: how states bargain with cyber weapons." Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 15 (2014): 119. Available at:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292126817_Inverted-Militarized_Cyber_Diplomacy
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PRISM, the quarterly journal of complex operations published at National Defense University (NDU), aims to illuminate and provoke debate on whole-of-government efforts to conduct reconstruction, stabilization, counterinsurgency, and irregular warfare operations. Since the inaugural issue of PRISM in 2010, our readership has expanded to include more than 10,000 officials, servicemen and women, and practitioners from across the diplomatic, defense, and development communities in more than 80 countries.
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PRISM, the quarterly journal of complex operations published at National Defense University (NDU), aims to illuminate and provoke debate on whole-of-government efforts to conduct reconstruction, stabilization, counterinsurgency, and irregular warfare operations. Since the inaugural issue of PRISM in 2010, our readership has expanded to include more than 10,000 officials, servicemen and women, and practitioners from across the diplomatic, defense, and development communities in more than 80 countries.
PRISM is published with support from NDU’s Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS). In 1984, Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger established INSS within NDU as a focal point for analysis of critical national security policy and defense strategy issues. Today INSS conducts research in support of academic and leadership programs at NDU; provides strategic support to the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, combatant commands, and armed services; and engages with the broader national and international security communities.
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