Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 5, Number 1, Spring / Summer 2020 | Page 18

Global Security and Intelligence Studies
which poses both a threat to
the Department of Defense
(DOD), combatant commands
(CCMDs), and Service components
and serves as a force multiplier
when leveraged effectively.
This paper argues for the recognition
of a new, psychological domain
in order to create the framework to understand
the target effects of such new
tools. The delivery method for information
is rapidly changing, making its potential
effects more detrimental and/or
lethal, especially in a world of reemerging
great power competition. Therefore,
the establishment of a sixth domain of
warfare is necessary as we move forward
into the twenty-first century. In order to
make the case for its recognition, we
will define the necessary components of
a domain, identify where the cyber domain
ends and where the psychological
domain begins, and illustrate the implications
of advanced technology on warfare
in the new domain. At its core, this
research seeks to explore why a psychological
domain has not yet been recognized,
and to argue that the time to do
so is now.
Information Operations in the
Age of Advanced Technology
The United States’ military superiority
has largely been defined
by its unique ability to navigate
and dominate its enemies in the classical
domains of warfare. Military operations
have fundamentally changed
throughout the twentieth century to
adapt to new technologies. Historically,
operations were dominated by the two
domains of land and sea. The advent of
powered flight in 1904 resulted in the
creation of the third domain, air, and
fifty years after the first powered flight,
the US Air Force was born. The space
domain was acknowledged not long after,
with the advent of Ronald Reagan’s
Strategic Defense Initiative in the 1980s
(Allen and Gilbert 2018). Finally, the
Pentagon’s declaration of cyberspace as
the fifth domain of warfare came after
a massive DoD network compromise in
2008 (Horning 2011).
Despite the importance of domains
to war, a clear and concise definition
does not seem to have been put
forth in military doctrine. We recognize
that the very concept of “domain”
may be problematic to some, as they all
cannot be compared equally. The conventional
domains of air, land, and sea
are certainly more physical in nature
than the cyber domain and, while space
may also be physical, it has so far proven
to be most useful for virtual enabling
effects, such as communication, surveillance,
and navigation (Heftye 2017).
However, “domain” has become such an
embedded concept in military thinking
that we do not wish to debate its value
as a construct. Therefore, we put forward
the definition by Patrick Allen
and Dennis Gilbert of Johns Hopkins
University for consideration:
1) It is a sphere of interest
2) It is a sphere of influence in that activities,
functions, and operations
can be undertaken in that sphere to
accomplish missions
4