information warfare konspektas

7/31/2019 Information Warfare Konspektas

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VILNIUS UNIVERSITY

THE INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM

Mantas Martiius

INFORMATION WARFARE

Vilnius, 2009


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1. THE DEFINITION AND MAIN ISSUES OF INFORMATION WAR.1. THE DEFINITION AND MAIN ISSUES OF INFORMATION WAR.

The conception of information warfare and its relation with mass communication.

Attitude towards information wars is closely related with a state economic, military and

political power. The wealthier a state the more emphasis is made on the technical matters of

the information war. A state which can not budget a lot of resources for technical

development of information warfare would pay attention to information warfare impact on

society or separate groups of it. The conception of information warfare also depends on the

geopolitical situation and political objectives of a state. Thus there are two main possibilities

for information warfare development distinguished, technical and social.

The particularity of media and its role in information warfare is that mass communication

means has power to influence the thinking of society which is amorphous and levels out

impressions of million of people. The changing of society mindset in information warfare is

one of its major objectives.

In this dissertation we will follow the notion of information warfare of cognitive science

representatives stating that information warfare is a battle outside the battlefield aiming to

frame a certain context of political conflict. This definition emphasizes the role of mass

communication means in the information war.

Since the mass communication means is one of the most important elements of the

information warfare there is a need to delineate clearly what is considered as mass

communication means. Mass communication means consist of many different forms. It

unites such means as books, newspapers, journals, leaflets and other published materials, TV

and radio programmes, cinematic and other studio produced sound and image production,

announcements of news agencies and announcements spread by electronic means. Mass

communication means distributes the information which reaches mass audiences,

tremendous amounts of people. In this work mass communication means is treated as

organized technologic means and institutions which materialize mass communication. The

significance of mass communication means augments as the society becomes more

dependant on information it provides. It should be stressed that mass communication means

transmits political, cultural, economic and other information to society. The right

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information delivered in time develops the awareness of citizens, and the informed society is

considered to be one of the major warranties of the democracy.

Mass communication means can be influenced intentionally by information war. In the

course of the war conflicts the 24-hour news channels influence the ordinary and military

people mindset not only of the enemy but also of the neutral countries, affecting their people

and government thinking. Access to information becomes an important issue. Access to

information is the opportunity of mass communication means to access the prime

information source directly. The prime information source is the initial supplier of

information. Its data mass communication means uses to announce or to explicate the news.

The countries which are not yet sound economically typically have a restrained as access to

information sources especially at military conflict time their mass communication means

depend upon the mass communication means of the economically strong countries. The

dependency from foreign mass communication means reduces the possibilities to verify the

information reliability and quality which constitutes favourable conditions to pursue

information war.

Information warfare study trends. When defining the scope of the information warfare it

is necessary to look at the theoretical study trends of information warfare and the

standpoints they frame. The most common is the partition of information wars into

structural, strategic, normative, alarmistic and cognitive trends.

The science representatives ofstructural trendattempt to methodize various impact means

and actions by uniting them into common information warfare formation. Generally the M.

Libicki structural frame of information warfare is applied. It comprises such types of

information war: 1) Command-and-control warfare; 2) intelligence-based warfare; 3)

electronic warfare; 4) psychological warfare); 5) hacker warfare; 6) economic information

warfare; 7) cyber warfare. This dissertation refuses to analyse information warfare as the

whole of such actions because the structural trend representatives tend to over broaden the

scope of information war. It leaves obscurity in discerning the boundaries among the

structural elements of information war. The structural trend representatives acknowledge

only the psychological warfare role of the mass communication means in the information

warfare whilst the author of this dissertation tends to assign more significant role to it.

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Modelling of future warfare conflicts by strategic trendrepresentatives is highly based on

analysis of state vulnerability by information attacks. The scientists of this field accentuate

the offensive and defensive types of information war. Nevertheless, the strategic trend of

information warfare tends to analyse the technical side of the information war.

Alarmistic trend representatives study contingent after-effects of information warfare on

state political, social, economic stability. Alarmists are indulged in utopian netwars.

Normatyvists analyze the information warfare according to their correspondence to

international law regulations. In other words, whether the information warfare means

infringe or not the principles of international law. Normative trendtreats the information

warfare in a very narrow sense.

The cognitive trendrepresentatives accent the importance of mass communication means in

information war. They point out that in fight with an enemy it is important not to provide the

enemy with information but also to demoralize his armed forces and the supporting society.

Confidentiality is an important element here. Unlike the factual warfare, it is difficult to

notice the beginning of the information war. The representatives of this trend emphasize the

fact that the means of information warfare are in use not only at war. The information

warfare can successfully be executed at peace. The cognitive trend also regards psychology

aspects to be very important in the information warfare since mass communication means

quite often become the psychological warfare spreaders of the countries at war.

Psychological warfare is the means applied to neutralise opposition and break its

determination to fight. The USA Air force doctrine of information operations delineates

three operation categories of military psychological warfare: a) strategic, b) operational, and

3) tactical. The strategical psychological operations aim to influence foreign audiences in

order to make them well-disposed to the foreign politics of USA. To influence the people of

the territory were the war is taking place the operational psychological operations are

employed. Tactical psychological operations are exploited against the military units of the

enemy.

Figure 1. Categories of military psychological operations

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The representatives of cognitive trend define the psychological operations in a very broad

sense of the information warfare context. They are perceived as planned psychological

impact means which can be applied both at war and in peacetime. Moreover, the

psychological impact means are directed towards opposite, friendly of neutral audiences

trying to influence their attitudes and behaviour and hereby contribute to the realisation of

political and military goals.

Thus, we draw a conclusion that information warfare is the battle outside the battlefield

aiming to settle a favourable context of the political conflict. The information warfare

involves the psychological battle too, and the mass communication means is the essential

instrument to influence the multitude.

The approach of the USA and Russia to information war. The scientists of USA and

Russia have different attitudes of information war.

In Russia the information warfare is regulated legally by information security of Russian

federation doctrine. State government has acknowledged the threat of information warfare

and considered to incorporate information security into general model of the state security.

The doctrine defines the information security conception and consolidates the disposition to

use prevention measures to safeguard the state information security. The information

security doctrine is also of two dimensions technological and psychological.

Peoples mind is one of the targeted objects to influence. It is perceived in a broad sense as a

culture, traditions and patriotic values. Doctrine notes that state dependent media its creation

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and development can assure appropriate presentation of its politics. Besides that, the

Military doctrine of Russian federation acknowledges that the world situation of nowadays

military and politics is influenced by information war.

Americans do not accentuate the influence on public consciousness as a separate element.

But they emphasize the consideration of information warfare practical application.

According to them, the information warfare is to be used at time of crises or conflict to reach

certain goals. The concept of information warfare was validated legally in the year of 1993

when the information warfare conception was ratified. The conception established three

means of information war: a) war against political command and communication controls; b)

intelligence warfare; c) electronic warfare.

Both Russian and US information warfare conceptions are presented in their legal

documents have a drawback of being too broad. The US information warfare conception

accentuates the technical side of information warfare but does not deliver sufficient

appreciation to mass communication means as well as in Russia.

2. THE ROLE OF MASS COMMUNICATION MEANS IN SOCIAL

TRANSFORMATION

Globalization. The economists, sociologists, political scientists, representatives of

communication and other sciences use the term globalization to describe the processes

which strengthen the social relations and interdependence encompassing the whole world.

Among the changes that are characterised as globalization features are the following: 1) the

revolutionary changes in technology and communication fields which led towards the

distance independency; 2) the events of one locality condition the events taking place in

another place of the world; 3) globalization is related to the spread of ideas on capitalism

and free market. Depending on the attitudes the globalization is grouped into a category of

sceptics, hyperglobalists and transformation followers. The first two pay much less attention

to mass communication means than the transformation followers.

According to the representatives of transformation, the globalization is the major power

which stimulated the changes of wide spectrum and which formulates the modern societies

today. The information processing and communication technologies make the basis for

changes in the environment of social and international relations, economic and cultural

cooperation. Modern societies have become the witnesses of the time and space utilization

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which was not conceivable in pre-modern societies. Due to technological progress in

communication field the information about people and events in distant places can nowadays

be reached much more easily. The global mass communication means make a daily delivery

of news, images and information to millions of people uniting the individuals with the

outside world directly and continuously. The penetration of foreign mass communication

companies to a closed national mass communication means market had an account to it. The

grouped of around twenty multinational corporations has prevailed in the global media

market in the 21st century and almost in every country of the world one can feel its impact.

The global media system consists of over 15 translational corporations governing various

mass communication means.

Information revolution. Scientists the term information revolution often attribute to the

technological progress in communication field which opened the doors to the information

war. The information revolution is a period of about 150 years. It can be grouped into three

phases early, maturity and late. The distinctive feature differentiating information

revolution from its predecessors (industrial revolution and the enlightment era) is the

dimension. The phenomena mentioned would come into play only in some countries and

would spread in a relatively little geographic territory. The information revolution started at

the beginning of 20th century when the new technical means, like telegraph, telephone, radio

were developed. They facilitated the communication and enabled the appearance of mass

communication. The development of aforementioned technologies had also an impact on

warfare. The military armies used the telegraph, the telephone and radio connection when

guiding the military outfits, performing logistic operations and increasing effectiveness. On

the other hand, the radio had already been used as mass communication means in the First

World War. It was used to mislead the society. The maturity phase of the information

revolution which began in the middle of 20th century ended around the 80s. By that time

such technologies as television, the first computers and cosmic satellites were developed.

The new communication technologies once again changed the peoples abilities to

communicate, transformed their inter-relationships. These technologies provided the

opportunities to overcome the space and time obstacles. The new technologies spread at high

speed. The distinct characteristic of new technologies at the maturity and late stages was

they were exploited to make further technological advancements and the information

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systems embraced the entire world. Besides that, when the communication means decreased

the space and time barriers it created the opportunities for the virtual community to establish.

It is a community whose members are very different and have never seen each other before

but know about the existence of each other. With the help of mass communication means

they become associated; the actions of one member bring about the reactions of the other.

This feeling of mutual dependence formed the background for the information warfare to

arise. The manipulation and restriction means were employed systematically to attain the

strategic and tactical goals.

The access to information in the course of military war conflict. The military conflict

raises an increased interest of society; therefore it gains the attention of mass communication

means. The causes of the military conflict, the course of the warfare the humanitarian crisis

and needs or political consequences of warfare are of interest. Advanced technical means

provided the opportunities to mass communication means to have a close approach to the

images of war. Theoretics called this a CNN phenomenon which was first mentioned after

the first Persian gulf war. This war was the first war which was broadcasted simultaneously.

In the same year the information warfare showed himself in Lithuania as well. The events of

the 13th of January in the year of 1991 are considered to be the manifestation of information

war. The international arena has many subjects who aim to direct the covering of military

warfare conflicts to have a favourable enlightment for themselves. Such TV channels as

CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera and others highlight the events of internal politics of a country to

international public. Their images, news produced and their interpretations provided form

the attitudes of the global audiences and become the discussion object for the governments

of the world. When mass communication means became the players of the global politics

boundary-free information space has emerged. And since the mass communication means

became an independent global subject, one of the most important priorities of a todays

government is to prevail in the information space. This strive is typical both at peace time

and at military war conflict.

The main goal of the countries at war is to become dominant in the information space. The

opponent acts according to the information it possesses, thus the major strive is to influence

the opponent so that he would take over the proposed reality model and would act in

correspondence with it. The conquering of information space quite often contravene with

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objectivity. The information provided by mass communication means can be biased, it does

not aim to reveal the truth. The information accessibility becomes an issue. During the

military conflict the basic source of primary information is the military offices of the

countries in fight. At war time the dependency of mass communication means on the

information provided by these offices emerges. Without a direct access to information

source mass communication means become dependent from persons who have such an

access. The restrain of access to information source is one of most common measures

applied to make an influence on mass communication means during the information war.

Since the information source is a single one the news it provides is very difficult to verify.

Thus, the opportunities to infuse the misleading information to society and political and

military office of opponent through mass communication means appear.

Mass communication means as subjects of global politics. The increasing importance of

the mass communication means is subject to the development of societys political power

over the last century. The mass communication means and society development into

substantial political participants is interrelated because they helped each other along the way.

Post-industrial countries use mass communication means as a second activity after work and

as a first activity at home. Mass communication means is the instrument which shapes the

attitudes of society. When shaping the attitudes of society mass communication means

influence the government because the citizen judgement depends on the attitude which is

formed on the basis of information it possesses. The mass communication means is not an

elementary intermediate transmitter of news but has become an independent source of news.

In the globalisation process the scope of society went beyond the national boundaries. The

global mass communication means created global audience. The information transmitted by

mass communication means evoke the international community to take political actions. The

media shifts the centre of political power and makes the role of global attitude more and

more important. People start to understand that social responsibility is not end at the board

line of the country but it extends way beyond that. Moreover, the notion that in case of crises

or threat to people life the international community must take actions to secure their material

wellbeing or their human rights.

The information security of a state. By employing the newest communication technologies

the media may influence the activities of politicians, diplomats, businessmen and military

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officers. Conventionally, depending on the threat to state activity areas, there are five

security sectors discerned: military, political, economic, social and ecological. The military

security covers the defensive and offensive state powers. Political security analyses the

threats to the political system functioning. Economical security is in charge of threats to state

economy and finance system. Social security embraces the dangers to survival of national

language, culture, religion identity. Ecological security focuses on threats of local and global

biosphere. Despite this comprehensive distribution of security sectors the model lacks of one

uniting link, which is the sector of communication security.

Insecurity in one sector can cause the insecurity appearance in another sectors and the

employment of mass communication means can destabilize the situation in every so called

security sector. The security problem has solid grounds but whether it would run into a

serious problem it depends from the power of this threat to disperse to other security sectors

and from the functioning of a state communication security. Besides, upon the globalisation

of media business the state power to control it has diminished. Information security should

not be treated as technical security of channels. This security is a broader term and it

encompasses the protection of the information space from the information warfare executed

by hostile party. The emergence and consolidation of mass communication means and

society opinion in this modern world challenge countries and make them safeguard their

information spaces from unfriendly leads of other countries.

3. OCCUPACION OF INFORMATION SPACE

Analysing the impacts of information warfare on Lithuanian mass communication means it

is necessary to estimate how the information space is occupied. What is the way the

information warfare biases the information to make it favourable to ones interests. Limited

network of media correspondents abroad causes the dependency on the information provided

by foreign agencies and round-the-clock news channels. The News agencies role is veryapparent. In todays foreign news market the main players are such western news agencies

as Agence France-Presse (below referred to as AFP), Associated Press (below referred

to as AP) and Reuters. These agencies possess 90 to a 100 bureaus where at least one full-

time journalist is employed. The dependence from foreign mass communication means

reduces the possibilities of Lithuanian journalists to verify the reliability and quality of the

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information provided. The reliability of information is verified by matching several

information sources. If the information about an event was provided by several independent

foreign mass communication means, it would be published in Lithuania as well. Such

verification of information allows to prevent the announcement of an event which didnt

happen. If the news used comes from one source, the likelihood of its unreliability is much

greater. Unfortunately, even international news agencies or round-the-clock news

broadcasting channels can not be secure because the information reliance very often mostly

depends on reliability of primary information source. Furthermore, the state information

space can be violated indirectly. It is sufficient to influence the foreign mass communication

means and the Lithuanian information space would become influenced.

In the course of war, the state governments of countries at war consider the mass

communication means to be one of the battle fields. The battle in the information space is an

information warfare field. The aim of this warfare is to break the determination to fight of

the struggling country without using military operations. The occupation of information

space is the prevalence of information which is favourable to a country at war and

displacement of such information of the opponent party. In war conflict the information

space can be occupied: a) by creating of information noise; b) by blocking or destroying the

mass communication means of opponent party; c) by denying the information provided by

opponent party. Lets have a closer look at each of the information space occupation

technique.

Although the information flow is tremendous during the war conflict, the information is not

of the same value. The amount of worthless information increases. Though the mass

communication means announces a lot of news, part of the information is irrelevant and

trifling, spoiling the information space. Thus, the information noise is the announcements

originated in the communication process which diverts attention from the main happenings

and disturbs to have a clear understanding of them. The information which is not directly

related to the war conflict is treated as information noise. Most often it would be the

speeches of various state officials of countries not taking part in war. It depends on the

definition of the term, whether the information falls into this category. The determination

what is to be treated as information noise conditions its usage in the information warfare.

Quite often the announcements of information noise type contain valuable information,

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despite that it is secondary to the subject. On the other hand, unlike propaganda and

misinformation, the information noise announcements are so obvious in raising doubts of its

reliability.

Blocking of opponent party signals or even destruction of its means are quite often measures

used to attain or maintain the dominance in the information space. Such practise was already

experienced by Lithuania. In January of 1991 when the Soviet authorities occupied the

media channels - state TV tower, the radio and TV building and chamber of publicity, trying

to cut-off the opportunities for the country to restore its statehood. The niche which opens in

the information space is filled with alternative mass communication means channels

prepared in advance. During the first Persian Gulf War the coalition forces used airplanes

EC-130J Command Solo. These airplanes are the flying radio and TV stations capable of

broadcasting at all radio and TV waves and shutting the trasmissions of stations underneath.

2 months prior the beginning of the second Persian Gulf War coalition forces applied once

again the flying radio stations. The radio was called Information radio. For advertising

purposes millions of leaflets were scattered above the Iraq territory. In fact, people already

were aware of the frequencies because they were the ones used by Iraq government earlier to

make the official announcements. During the second Persian Gulf War the mass

communication means of Iraq were attacked to destroy. The Iraq TV centre was attacked

three times. After an attack, the Iraqis would resume the TV broadcasting in order to

maintain their positions in information space. The blocking of signals of the opponent party

or the destruction of mass communication means is possible only in the course of an armed

conflict. The destruction of mass communication means has strongest effect on the people in

the area of military conflict. As an aspect of information warfare the impact of foreign mass

communication means is not direct. By destruction of mass communication means the

enemy is deprived of opportunity to state his position which can be announced worldwide

later on through news agencies. When analysing the reflection of a military conflict it is

important to consider the fact that physical destruction of mass communication means of a

country can condition uneven spread of announcements made by countries at war.

Striving to have a good position in the information space, one of the most obvious examples

of information warfare is the information collisions; this term refers to the evidence that the

countries at war make different statements on the same subject.

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In the case of information warfare the essence of the information collision is to deny the

information the opposite party diffuses. In order to present a neutral enlightment of the

military conflict the mass communication means strive to receive verification or comments

of the opposite party. The opponent denial brings doubts about the reliance of the

information. When this happen constantly the information source is considered to be

unreliable. In general the information collisions can be grouped into: a) disputes about

existence of fact; b) disputes about the interpretation of fact. In the first case, the parties

discord on the very happening of the event. For instance, at the beginning of the second

Persian Gulf War the coalition forces supporting Kuwait announced that the Iraqis fired

rockets Scud to the territory of Kuwait. In the second case, the fact existence is not in

question but the relevance of the happening or its interpretation is in dispute. The

information collisions indicate that the parties in fight pursue the information war. It is not

worth to interpret the information collisions as an equal number of announcements and their

denials. The information collisions testify the importance of the disputable subject to both

parties in fight. The country to which the announcement subject is more important is more

active attempting to entrench ones position substantially in the information space than the

other party.

Another information warfare subject, psychological warfare is also used in the military

conflicts. In the case of military conflict the campaign of psychological warfare can be

extended to a visionary means applied to break the enemys determination to fight. The mass

communication means not only provides society with the information but also makes a

psychological impact. Propaganda was and still remains the main means of the

psychological nature applied in the war conflicts. TV, radio, periodicals, cinema, public

speeches in meetings, leaflets, handouts, internet are used for the dissemination of

propaganda. During a war conflict many announcements made by countries at war can be

regarded as propaganda. There are seven techniques to perform propaganda: Name calling,

Glittering generality, Transfer, Testimonial, Plain Folks, Card Stacking, Band Wagon. All

of them can not necessarily be used at war but also in a political campaign, image creation

campaign, etc. The techniques can be used solely or in combination. The boundaries

between the techniques are not very distinct; therefore the methods are often confused.

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The employment of propaganda at war testifies the war process, but the propaganda is

principally used against the parties directly involved into war. Only the propaganda-affected

information reaches Lithuania. This information names the facts but does not influence us

emotionally. Information stating that one of the countries at war has caused damages to the

other is perceived as information about the fact of battle. Besides that the same information

in the country at war is also propaganda since it addresses the emotions of the people living

in that country.

4. THE INFLUENCE ON INFORMATION WARFARE TO THE LITHUANIANINFORMATION SPACE DURING THE SECOND PERSIAN GULF WAR

Research process. In addition to real military actions in the battle field in the second

Persian Gulf War, the opposing countries skirmished in the information space as well. The

Lithuanian mass communication means did not have direct access to the information of the

countries at war therefore they used the information provided by foreign media. In order to

comprehensively analyse the information warfare impact on mass communication means,

the Lithuanian news agency Baltic News Service (BNS)was chosen as a representative

state media means. News agency announcements are the main sources of information for the

most mass communication means in Lithuania. In consideration of the goal and tasks of the

dissertation these issue statements were formulated:

1. There is an obvious dependency of information provision from foreign mass

communication means during second Persian Gulf War conflict; 2. Information noise is

quite often applied by the countries at war as a information warfare technique. The highest

volume of the information noise was in the beginning of the conflict; 3. The announcements

made by the countries at war were uneven (more information from the Anti-Saddam

coalition than S. Hussein regime); 4. The information collisions reveal the relevance

dependency: more announcements and contra-announcements on a subject would be made

by the party to which the subject is of greater importance; 5. The proofs of propaganda used

as means of psychological warfare in the second Persian Gulf War.

The enlightment of the war. Dependence from foreign news agencies. The integrated

approach solving the statements at issue has showed how much impact the foreign news

agencies had on Lithuanian mass communication means when the second Persian Gulf War

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was enlightened. The figure 2 demonstrates the research of the dissemination impact. The

dependence of the Lithuanian mass communication means from the foreign news agencies is

obvious the greatest amounts of announcements were distributed by such news agencies,

the world leaders of the field, asReuters and AFP.

Figure 2. The spread of information by news agencies

357

24

83

757

26 1 2

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800AFP

BNS

Interfax

Reuters

AFP-Reuters-BNS

Interfax-AFP-BNS

other

The dependency from the afore-mentioned news agencies also proves to be evident in

another analysis estimating the data by periods. In the period of March the rate of

dependency from these two news agencies was 87 per cent and in the period of April

through May it increased to 91,4 per cent. In addition to that, taking into consideration the

fact that the relevance of the news agency Interfax was 7,1 per cent and 6,2 per cent

correspondingly, the absolute dominance of the foreign news agencies information is

observed. It confirms the statement that there was an obvious dependence of the Lithuanian

mass communication means from the foreign news agencies. This dominance during the

second Persian Gulf War provides the opportunities to bring about the information warfare.

There just two main providers of the foreign news in the Lithuanian media market. They are

news agencies BNSandELTA. The fact that authorship of the information presented in the

foreign news section ofBNSmajority belongs to foreign news agencies, testifies that the

Lithuanian mass communication means have scarce opportunities to verify the information.

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There are possibilities either to accept and publish the announcement about the second

Persian Gulf War or ignores it. The latter option is not a frequent practise for the Lithuanian

mass communication means since the choice of alternative information sources needed is

little.

The information noise. The information noise is an escort of information warfare. Its

mission is to divert the mass communication means, thereby the society attention, and to

disturb their orientation and understanding about events. In the research database there are

302 announcements which fall under the information noise category. The highest level of

information noise was rated on the eve and the beginning of the war, a little lower at the end

of the war.

Table 1. The evidence of the information noise by war stages

Information

noise in the

second Persian

Gulf War

The eve and

the beginning

of the war

The war in

process

Occupancy of

BagdadThe end of war

Number of

announcements112 48 38 104

The evidences of the information noise at the beginning of the war testify the fact that this

means was used striving to run the information warfare very actively. The difference of its

usage in other two war stages is very large. The information noise increases greatly again at

the last war stage. This is a conditional factor: the information noise, as a camouflage means

of the information warfare, is related to diplomatic political context. The anti-war

announcements dominated in the eve and at the beginning of the war. In the political

context, it was in favour to S. Hussein regime. Whereas the information noise at the end of

the war was more in favour to the coalition forces which had a need to exploit the

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information noise measure to divert the focus from the actions and the speeches about the

reasons of the war.

In the context of the information warfare it is important to note that USA joined the

information noise creators in early stages of the war. At the end of the war the information

noise from this side increased significantly (table 2). This change shows the interest of the

USA to divert the focus of mass communication means from the real proceedings of the

military conflict. This once again confirms our hypothesis that the biggest information noise

creators at the end of the war were USA, United Kingdom and Post-Saddam Iraq.

Table 2. The information noise distribution by countries at war

Countries The eve and

the beginning

of the war

The war Occupancy of

Bagdad

The end of the

war

Australia 1 - - -

USA 8 11 10 29

United

Kingdom7 - - 9

Post-Saddam

Iraq- - - 31

S. Hussein

regime- - 5 -

In summary, we can draw a conclusion that information noise was the most intense at the

eve and the beginning of the war. During the three first stages of the war the information

noise was most exploited by the countries and international organizations on the side against

the war. The countries like USA, United Kingdom and Post-Saddam Iraq went in for

information noise at the end of the war. The reason for that was an aim to divert the focus

from the actions and the speeches about the reasons of the war.

The announcement grouping by the countries in fight. One of the goals of the countries

taking part in war is to consolidate their position in the information space. Among the

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measures used to realise that are the following ones: the vast supply of information to mass

communication means; invoking of all possible technical means (TV, internet, etc.) to spread

the information; working restraints for journalists in zones under control in order to have a

monopoly of information source; physical destruction of mass communication means of the

opponent party.

The domination in information space was also striving in the second Persian Gulf

War (figure 3). The distribution of announcements by the countries at war testifies the fact

that the coalition forces prevailed in the information space. The total number of

announcements of coalition forces (650) surpasses the number of announcements in favour

of S. Hussein regime (193) by more than three times. The announcements of USA alone

were almost three times more frequent than the ones of S. Hussein regime. The monopolistic

position in the information space provides one with an opportunity to submit the information

which would set the agenda of mass communication means in favour of oneself. If one of the

countries at war gains such a position in the information space, the journalists face the

monopolist requirement either to report on the subject they are permitted or not to report at

all. Monopolist only sets the subjects and the mass communication means are free to decide

in what context to announce it. The limitation of subjects would be the ones to control the

information space invisibly. The analysis of the research data (pictures 3 and 4) illustrates

that this was the purpose of the coalition forces during the Persian Gulf War.

Figure 3. The distribution of announcements by the countries at war

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4 2 11

506

10

117

185

80

100

200

300

400

500

Australia

Denmark

PostSadamI

raq

USA

Poland

UnitedKingdom

S.Hussein

regimeofficers

Neutral

announcements

Coalition forces

(650 announcements in total)

S.Hussein regime

(193 announcements in

total)

In the second Persian Gulf War there was uneven distribution of announcements by the

countries at war. The Anti-Saddam coalition was much more active in submitting the

information than the S. Hussein regime.

Figure 4. The announcement distribution by war stages

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194174

99

50

163119

12

32

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

The beginning of war In the cource of war Bagdad occupancy At the end of war

Stages of the war

Numberofannouncements

S.Hussein regime states (4 countries)

The states of coalition forces (6 countries)

The information collisions. One of the most evident illustrations of information warfare is

the direct information collision when the countries at war express different approaches and

interpretations on the subject or issue. The research has identified 16 direct coalition

situations. It is important to note that the number of announcements on a subject differs. In

some cases there was one announcement of each party, in other cases the number of

announcements per party varied. At the beginning of the war there were more information

collision type announcements of coalition party than contradicting statements of the S.Hussein regime officers. In the run of the war the number of announcements and

contradicting statements equalled out. The decrease of submission of S. Hussein regime

announcements during the occupancy of Bagdad testifies the failing position of the regime

rather than underestimation of the information warfare power.

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There are two the most conspicuous information collisions: 1) the dispute about the actuality

of Um Kasr harbour occupation; 2) the doubts, whether S. Hussein is alive and has controls

over the situation in the state. Thus, we will have a closer look at these two information

collisions.

On 21st of March, 2003 it was announced that the USA flag was raised upon the

strategically important harbour of Um Kasr. The same day followed the Iraqis denial. On the

subject the S. Hussein regime officers made only 3 announcements over the whole period of

information collisions on the harbour governing while the representatives of the coalition

forces 12. This disproportion has an explanation: the coalition forces made the statement

too early when they had not had the total control yet. When the Iraqis denied such statements

of the coalition forces and the mass communication means got interest in this war episode,

this became a sore point for the Americans and the British. In order to restore the trust of

the mass communication means in themselves and to have control in the information space,

the coalition forces continually provided with information about the military actions in the

harbour.

On the 21st of March the British secretary of defence Geoff Hoon announced the doubts

whether the Iraq leader S. Hussein is alive. After this announcement, the Iraq regime officers

often tried to prove that their leader is live and controls the situation in the state. Five such

announcements of the coalition forces and 13 Iraqi denials reached Lithuania. Since the

question about capacities of the Iraqi leader to manage the country was of highest relevance

to Iraqis, we can make a hypothetical assumption that three of these coalition

announcements did not reflect the reality of the situation in Persian Gulf.

All in all, there were 45 information collision announcements made by the coalition forces

and 43 made by S. Hussein regime officers. This repeatedly testifies that the countries at war

employed the technique of information collisions in the information warfare. On the other

hand, the research data analysis has evidenced clearly the dependency of the relevance to the

countries at war: the country to which the subject is of higher relevance would make more

announcements on the subject.

Propaganda in the second Persian Gulf War. Based on the methodology of the

propaganda dissemination described in theory part of the dissertation, the most propaganda

specific announcements were selected for further analysis. In total there were 24

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announcements selected of propaganda content, three of which belong to coalition forces

and the rest to S. Hussein regime. To generalise the psychological warfare evidence in the

second Persian Gulf War, it should be stated that the announcements analysed are rather to

testify the fact that psychological warfare was employed rather than to make a propaganda

influence on the Lithuanian audiences. We can only confirm that propaganda

announcements come in view of mass communication means but we can not witness

propaganda influence on the audience. In the context of propaganda, the messages are not fit

to the Lithuanian audience. We can presume from the analysis that the target audience of the

propaganda announcements is the Iraqi people. Various propaganda means are applied to

address them. It is also not possible to make a clear identification of the different

propaganda type expressions; it is difficult to establish were begins and ends one or another

type of propaganda because the announcements which reached the foreign news heading of

BNSare just the reflections of psychological war. The actual propaganda messages did not

reach the Lithuanian mass communication means.

Results of the research. To review the second Persian Gulf War enlightment in the

Lithuanian mass communication means it could be stated that the most of the information

which passed the screening and got into agendas of the mass communication means came

from coalition forces (figure 5). The coalition information compounded 53 per cent of all the

information. The information noise played role in 24 per cent of the information about the

second Persian Gulf War. S. Hussein regime information covered just 15 per cent of all the

Lithuanian information space and the information from Iraq neighbours totalled to 8 per cent

of all the information.

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Figure 5. Distribution of announcements by categories

302

650

193

105

Information noise

Coalition forces

S.Hussein regime

Neighbour states

The research revealed that the dominance of the information on the second Persian Gulf War

provided by foreign news agencies capacitates the prosecution of the information warfare.

The information noise is a means of information warfare frequently used by the countries at

war. The analysis showed that S. Hussein regime did not strive intentionally to become the

source of the information noise, nevertheless the information noise generated on the

coalition forces part proves the intense usage of information noise as a means of information

warfare. The research identified uneven distribution of announcements by the countries at

the second Persian Gulf War. The Anti-Saddam coalition information has prevailed greatly

over the information on S. Hussein regime part.

The countries at war also applied the information collision technique. This means as well as

propaganda announcement evidences the employment of information warfare in the second

Persian Gulf War. The research also showed that information about the second Persian Gulf

War provided by news agencyBNSis influenced by information warfare.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The mass communication means is under the influence of information warfare. The

influence fo the mass communication means is made because of the following reasons:

a) the globalisation has made the people of the World closer, therefore, the

interrelationship of individuals, groups and nations becomes more intense;

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application of the information warfare in the mass communication means allows

to induce the feelings of mutual dependency and to provoke certain actions;

b) the penetration of foreign events into peoples life destine states and international

organisations for decisions about questions they have not intended to tackle;

c) the expectations of voters are frequently formed by the mass communication

means. This preconditions the execution of information warfare;

d) in the enlightment of foreign news the translational corporations set in. The

context of the foreign news, especially in the developing countries, depends on

the information provided by these corporations. In order to reach the information

warfare purpose it is sufficient to influence one of the powerful corporations.

e) during the military conflict the mass communication means face the issue of

restriction to information; this makes it favourable for the countries at war to

pursue the information warfare;

f) because the mass communication means got the power to influence the political

decisions, the information security became a part of a state security discipline.

Conclusion: Making an analysis of the information provided by mass communication means

one must pay attention to the fact that it can be affected by the information warfare.

2. Two areas of the information warfare segregate technical and social. The attitude

towards the information warfare is closely related to the economical, military and political

power of a state. The wealthier the country, the more emphasis it makes on the technical part

of the information warfare. If the state can not allot much of its resources for the

development of information warfare model, it would focus on the impact measures which

are of influence to the society or certain groups of people. The author chose the

information warfare conception of cognityvists to analyse the information warfare as a

communication science subject. It states: The information warfare is a battle beyond

the battlefield striving to frame an adequate context of political conflict. The the

representatives of cognitive trend stress the role of the mass communication means in the

information warfare while the representatives of other trends underemphasize it.

3. The globalisation is a mighty transformation power which bonds social, economical,

governing and controlling institutions of the world, therefore the analysis of the

information warfare has to encompass wider context of social transformation and the

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role of the mass communication means in it. The mass communication means play a very

important role in the globalisation process. Thanks to them, the modern societies have

witnessed such a utilisation of time and space which was no one to see in the premodern

societies. These changes became feasible thanks to the information revolution.

Information revolution is about a 150 year period which consists of three phases: early

maturity and late. Due to technological advancement, the mass communication means

became the subject of global politics. The global information space, which can not be

restrained by any state boundaries, evolved. The scope of society attitude went beyond

the national state boundaries and ascended from national state level to the world level.

Therefore, due to the information revolution, one of the critical functions in the information

warfare belongs to the mass communication means. The understanding of national security

of state has also expanded. It now comprises the safeguarding of the information space

from the information warfare caused by inimical country.

4. The restrains of access to the information source is one of the frequently applied

methods to influence the mass communication means during the war. During the

military conflict the source of the prime information is the military office of the

country at war. The control of information source determines the information and its

context submitted to the mass communication means. When analysing the information

warfare impact on the mass communication means, one should investigate not only the

access to information issue but also the information noise and information collisions

existent in the information space.

5.In the context of information warfare, the state information space can be infringed

indirectly by foreign mass communication means. When trying to determine the impact of

information warfare on state mass communication means, one must also analyse the

information delivery dependency from foreign news agencies. One of the possible

indicators, whether the information space is or is not occupied by the information warfare of

a country at war, is the announcement distribution analysis by the countries at war.

6.The research of the second Persian Gulf War has showed that the coalition forces

have occupied the information space of Lithuania.

7. The research in this dissertation has comprised the study which was the first attempt in

Lithuania to comprehensively analyse (both in theoretical and practical dimensions) the

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impact of information warfare on the mass communication means. The guidelines for

further analysis on the information warfare impact on the mass communication means

is provided.

8. Till nowadays the information warfare was researched mainly by the representatives of

the political science. This dissertation incorporates the information warfare into the

study field of communication science and journalism studies in Lithuania. It can be the

background of the study course for communication students. The dissertation can also be of

use to the state institutions responsible for the national state security.

9. The scope of this subject (the information warfare impact on the mass communication

means) can be expanded to include the information warfare which takes place in peacetime.

It was not within the scope of this dissertation but it is non the less important.

information warfare konspektas

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