Satan vs. Satan: The Use of Black PSYOP to Regain the Tactical Initiative in the Counterinsurgency Fight

Abstract

In the counterinsurgency fight, the insurgent has the tactical initiative because he is able to pick the time, place, and intensity of his own engagements. The insurgent s environment, however, is a very difficult one despite his initiative. The insurgent must balance the mutually exclusive requirements of hiding (operational security) and fighting (operational effectiveness) in order to gain/maintain legitimacy without being prematurely destroyed by the state. What if the state could influence this balance? What if there was a way for the state to directly target the insurgent s resource allocation between these competing requirements? Typically, states attempt this through influencing the population to support the state and reject the insurgent. But what if the state could use the insurgent s own propaganda machine against itself? Through mathematical modeling, I will show that Black PSYOP enables the state to make strategic moves on behalf of the insurgent that are so detrimental to his cause that he must act in order to counter his own moves. In this way, the state is able to turn Satan against himself. How shall then his kingdom stand? ---Matthew 12:26

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA471500

Entities

People

  • David Mugg

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Case Studies
  • Communication Channels
  • Counterinsurgency
  • Department Of Defense
  • Detection
  • Environment
  • Governments
  • Human Behavior
  • Human Intelligence
  • Information Operations
  • Insurgency
  • Operational Effectiveness
  • Propaganda
  • Psychological Operations
  • Security
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies