Military Leadership in the Age of Cognitive Warfare

Abstract

In many definitions of cognitive warfare, it is highlighted that the target is human mind, and not only the contents of it but the various cognitive processes, such as attention and decision making. The aim in cognitive warfare is often defined to be the influencing of how individuals think, not what they think. Social media is often mentioned as one of the main platforms by which these cognitive influence operations are conducted, possibly enhanced with big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) tools. In some definitions it is also included, that in addition to behavioral and cultural sciences, also the exploiting of neuroscience for even more effective and more precisely targeted influences on individual cognition could be considered. The intertwined cognitive, technological, and information dimension form new types of threats which call for a close evaluation of possible effects and countermeasures. The DOTMLPF-I framework (Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership & Education, Personnel, Facilities, Interoperability) is used in armed forces to guide capability development. This study is a conceptual analysis within these dimensions, with the focus on Leadership and Education dimensions and how they should adapt to face these new types of threats. Military leadership is expected to be fast rational decision-making under uncertainty. However, cognitive warfare challenges this with disinformation and emotional manipulation, for example. Introducing AI functionalities to decision support systems may enhance situational awareness and decision-making speed, but the algorithms may be biased and the systems may operate in a non-transparent way, thus eroding trust towards them. Resilience against effects of cognitive warfare requires training in media literacy and critical thinking, but also in emotional skills. The forming of situational understanding is one of the main targets in cognitive warfare and it should be supported with specialized training, for example by targeting the underlying cognitive processes of forming situational understanding. For this purpose, cognitive training should be targeted to, for example, attention control, working memory, and mental flexibility. In the current manuscript the challenges posed by cognitive warfare to military leadership are reviewed with suggested solutions.