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Psychological Warfare

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Psychological warfare involves the planned use of propaganda and other psychological operations to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of opposition groups. RAND has studied military information support operations (MISO) in many countries and war zones and has provided objective and supportable recommendations to policymakers on methods and tactics to employ or defend against these operations.

Report
Russia's Evolving Use of Information Confrontation
Information confrontation is the use of offensive or defensive informational means to achieve political, economic, or military objectives. Russian strategy likens information weapons with weapons of mass destruction since both have the potential to reshape the international system. The Ukraine experience offers insights into Russia's tactics.
Aug 18, 2022
Report
Combating Foreign Disinformation on Social Media
Disinformation campaigns on social media pose a nuanced threat. But much of the U.S. response remains ad hoc and uncoordinated. It's unclear who has the edge moving forward, because disinformation techniques and countermeasures are evolving simultaneously.
Jul 19, 2021

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Blog
Arming Teachers, F-16s in Ukraine, Commercial Spaceflight: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on how teachers feel about arming teachers, what F-16s will (and won't) do for Ukraine, the need to regulate commercial spaceflight, and more.
Jun 2, 2023
Report
Chinese Next-Generation Psychological Warfare
China is interested in both advanced computing and brain science to expand and improve its psychological warfare capabilities. How might this affect U.S.-China dynamics in peacetime competition, crisis, and conflict?
Jun 1, 2023
Commentary
The Trouble with Russian Blacklisting
Analysis, informed by interactions with Russians, offers Western leaders a window into Russia. Blacklists hinder this process. With the stakes so high, much depends on experts' success in getting their analysis right.
Dec 15, 2022
Report
Russian and Ukrainian Perspectives on the Concept of Information Confrontation: Translations, 2002–2020
This volume compiles texts from leading members of the military-scientific communities in Russia and Ukraine and illustrates how decisionmakers in these countries understand and debate information weapons and information influence.
Aug 18, 2022
Report
Russia's Information Warfare with the West
Popular portrayals of the Russian disinformation machine imply an organized and well-resourced operation, but evidence suggests that it is neither. Nonetheless, Russian social media activity can be harmful to U.S. interests and is likely to evolve.
Jun 7, 2022
Report
Do National Security Communication Campaigns Work? Taking a Lesson from the Public Health Sector
Through a systematic review of research on public health communication campaigns, the authors identified insights relevant to national security communication campaigns, such as those conducted by the U.S. Army's psychological operations forces.
May 10, 2022
Journal Article
Decoding Crimea: Pinpointing the Influence Strategies of Modern Information Warfare
For this paper we write about information in warfare from the perspective of Strategic Communications (StratCom) and the pursuits of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence.
Feb 2, 2022
Tool
Command Narrative Smart Guide
This quick reference provides the big-picture basics for successful command narrative development and deployment.
Nov 15, 2021
Report
Developing, Disseminating, and Assessing Command Narrative: Anchoring Command Efforts on a Coherent Story
Drawing on the scientific literature and lessons learned from the joint force, the authors of this report describe best practices for the effective use of command narrative.
Nov 15, 2021
Report
Countering Russia: The Role of Special Operations Forces in Strategic Competition
This report establishes a strategic framework for U.S. Army special operations forces support to countering Russian activities in the competition space.
Nov 8, 2021
Tool
Handbook for Tactical Operations in the Information Environment
With its quick-reference format and series of illustrative vignettes, this handbook facilitates problem-solving and highlights how early-career officers in tactical units can contribute to operations in the information environment.
Oct 4, 2021
Report
Chinese Disinformation Efforts on Social Media
The authors identify key Chinese practices and the supporting infrastructure and conditions that successful social media disinformation campaigns require, concluding that China is using Taiwan as a test bed for developing attack vectors.
Jul 19, 2021
Journal Article
Exploring Chinese Military Thinking on Social Media Manipulation Against Taiwan
This article addresses a gap in the current policy discussion, provides evidence of Chinese military planning for covert manipulation of Taiwanese social media, and explores how its interest in and tactics for social media manipulation have evolved over time.
May 19, 2021
Journal Article
Chinese Bomber Flights Around Taiwan: For What Purpose?
After conducting two strategic bomber flights around Taiwan in late 2016, Beijing significantly stepped up its operational tempo with at least another five flights circumnavigating the island in mid-2017.
May 18, 2021
Journal Article
Borrowing a Boat Out to Sea: The Chinese Military's Use of Social Media for Influence Operations
The Chinese military is positioning itself as one of the leading actors for hostile Chinese influence operations on social media. The PLA uses social media for covert hostile political interference operations targeting foreign countries.
May 14, 2021
Journal Article
Cognitive Domain Operations: The PLA's New Holistic Concept for Influence Operations
As information becomes ever more central for Chinese warfighting, the People's Liberation Army is developing a new concept for psychological warfare in the information era called "cognitive domain operations."
May 14, 2021
Report
Human Aspects of Air Force Operations
The special operations community has focused on leveraging human-focused capabilities, but the conventional Air Force has yet to fully embrace human aspects of military operations. Is there a need for a joint warfighting domain focused on human aspects of military operations?
Nov 30, 2020
Report
Detecting Malign or Subversive Information Efforts over Social Media
The United States has a capability gap in detecting malign or subversive information campaigns in time to respond before they influence large audiences. A novel method can now detect these efforts.
Mar 16, 2020

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RAND Topic:
Psychological Warfare

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Michael Schwille

Full Policy Researcher

Mike Schwille is a political scientist at RAND. His primary research interest focuses on the integration of information into combined arms warfare. He has experience with Joint, Army and Marine Corps concept development, Operations in the Information Environment, countering A2AD strategies,…
Christopher Paul

Senior Social Scientist

Christopher Paul is a senior social scientist at the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Paul provides research support related to operations in the information environment, information warfare, the information joint/warfighting function, counterpropaganda, cyber…

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