Information: Ways and Means in Competition

Abstract

Since the Gulf War, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has worked to alter the status quo in the Western Pacific through strategies that integrate information to underpin its military modernization and "three warfares" campaigns. The PRC's aggressive use of information influences and coerces its targets by combining non-military means and backs them with aggressive military harassment. Since the end of the Cold War, information has been an afterthought as an instrument of national power because the United States Information Agency (USIA) was abolished as part of the post-Cold War "peace dividend." For the U.S. to be effective in this renewed era of great power competition, it must reestablish the USIA to plan, direct, and coordinate information as a primary strategic means alongside the other instruments of national power. A reinvigorated USIA would cultivate political warfare capability and serve as the NCA's executive agent for information operations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 12, 2023
Accession Number
AD1208689

Entities

People

  • Stephen E. Detrinis

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cold War
  • Competition
  • Executives
  • Great Power Competition
  • Information Operations
  • Military Modernization
  • Political Warfare
  • Republic
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Asian Economic Studies
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.