Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 5, Number 1, Spring / Summer 2020 | Page 51

Psychology as a Warfighting Domain
US values. This may require creative
and innovative solutions to these modern
phrases, so exploring new means to
share messages while countering disinformation
campaigns is critical.
The psychological domain represents
the next great shift in warfare.
Other nations are choosing to leverage
the domain in a way to propagate falsehoods
and sow global divisiveness. The
US has long stood as a stalwart of truth
in rhetoric, often delivering stale and
late timed facts to a conversation. By
the time the facts have been delivered,
fake stories have already convinced the
public. If the US is to regain its footing,
the DOD should not only formalize a
sixth warfighting domain, but should
also act to seize the narrative. As history
has shown during major combat
operations, the DOD has successfully
leveraged this capability. The main
difference between the information
sphere today and during WWII or the
Cold War is ease of access. The modern
threat, danger, and risk of failure in
the information environment are real,
and an emphasis on psychological approaches
could help.
Future research would benefit
from articulating a way forward for the
DOD, including what command structures
and authorities would look like.
This article’s review of past uses of psychology
as a warfighting domain stresses
the importance of such an endeavor.
The case studies the authors highlighted
show that understanding human psychology
changes the ways nations conduct
warfare. Information is a source of
national power, but without a unified
and clearly defined domain, there is no
way to decisively dominate and yield
this power. Within the domain of psychology
rests the opportunity to see an
end to conflict before it begins, as Sun
Tzu argued centuries ago.
Psychological warfare has a varied
but significant history and was used
both as a tool for nations to take on
their foes and as a method to inspire
and influence their own populations.
During the Classical Era, the Trojan
Horse was infamously used as a deceptive
device that would force capitulation
upon the enemy. Fast-forward
to the World Wars, and propaganda
was successfully used both to inspire
friendly populations and to deter adversary
populations from participating
in their war efforts. Methodology and
psychological science developed during
the global conflicts and onwards, within
the Soviet Union in particular, led to
the refinement of RCT, an operational
level planning tool for IO, while the
United States refined and developed
tactics and equipment for tactical level
employment of PSYOP and influence
operations. IO continued its evolution
into the modern age, where electronic
warfare, cyber operations, and the
third industrial revolution redefined
information operations like never before
due to the new speed with which
people could generate, transmit, and
ingest information. Despite significant
changes in information management,
the key tenets of IO, based on influencing
people, have remained steadfast and
will continue to do so as long as human
nature remains the same.
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