Welcome
Information is an element of national power along with diplomatic, military and economic power. The current information environment challenges the United States as never before. It has leveled the playing field for not only nation states, but non-state actors, multinational corporations and even individuals to affect strategic outcomes with minimal information infrastructure and little capital expenditure. The Information as Power web site is an online resource that provides an electronic library of current and historical articles and documents. Its purpose is to facilitate an understanding of the information element of power in this new and difficult environment in order to better address the national security issues we currently face. Unlike sites focused on one aspect of the information element this site attempts to broadly consider all the dimensions of the information environment: physical, informational and cognitive.
The explosive growth of new media within the Global Information Environment (GIE) presents sustained challenges and opportunities for the U.S. military. In recent years, adversaries - armed with new media capabilities and an information-led warfighting strategy - have proven themselves capable of challenging the most powerful militaries in the world. The current and future geo-strategic environment requires preparation for a battlespace in which symbolic informational wins may precipitate strategic effects equivalent to, or greater than, lethal operations.
In order to address these new media challenges, the U.S. Army War College (USAWC), Center for Strategic Leadership in partnership with the SecDev Group hosted a workshop entitled "Bullets and Blogs: New Media and the Warfighter." This workshop brought together leading practitioners from the Department of Defense, Department of State, Intelligence Community, and experts from academia.
This report is a synthesis of workshop discussions in terms of key takeaways addressing what is required to "win" in today's operational environment, where cyberspace and new media capabilities are significant components of the battlespace.