Message or Counter-Message: Crafting Effective Information Campaigns in the Internet Age
USSOCOM Sovereign Challenge tackles foreign interference

By: U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Barry Loo, USSOCOM Office of Communication - 10/2/2018

  • Lt. Gen. James Slife opening remarks
    U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. James Silfe delivers opening remarks for the Sovereign Challenge program's 2018 Fall Seminar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Barry Loo)
  • Participants at Seminar
    Seventy-seven participatns from 27 countries attend the U.S. Special Operations Command Soverign Challenge program's 2018 Fall Seminar at the U.S. Institute of Peace. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Barry Loo)
  • Panel discussion
    Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism Andrew Knaggs moderates a panel discussion. (Photo by U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Barry Loo)

Seventy-seven participants from 27 countries converged for the U.S. Special Operations Command Sovereign Challenge program's 2018 Fall Seminar at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2018.

 

The seminar, entitled “Message or Counter-Message: Crafting Effective Information Campaigns in the Internet Age,” provided an opportunity for subject matter experts, military personnel and world leaders to discuss global information challenges.

 

"Truth is not always enough to counter an adversary's narrative," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. James Slife, vice commander, USSOCOM. “…[B]y being better storytellers, not simply couriers of facts and raw data, we may be better equipped for future challenges.”

 

The event featured two keynote speakers, a panel discussion, and networking opportunities.

 

Executive Editor of the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting Indira Lakshmanan and Director of the German Marshall Fund's Future of Geopolitics and Asia program Jamie Fly served as the key note speakers. Each spoke about foreign disinformation campaigns.

“Americans of all political stripes need to realize that they are potential targets,” Lakshmanan said. “We can all be inadvertently weaponized.”

They spoke about the influence of social media networks and how their use by foreign intelligence agencies can exacerbate existing divides in U.S. society.

“What they will aim to do with these social media networks is they will just try to amplify the fringes so the most vocal voices on both sides of an issue will be amplified through these networks,” Fly said. “They just want to sow division.”

“It's fanning the flames and creating deeper divisions than maybe actually exist in real life,” Lakshmanan said. 

A six-member panel followed the speakers, including Ambassador Deborah McCarthy of the American Academy of Diplomacy, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Farah Pandith, Professor Sara Cobb, Director of The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, as well as communications experts from the State Department and U.S. Central Command.

The panelists spoke about increasing the effectiveness of delivering messages through more effective means of communication.

“I think all afternoon we've had some very interesting perspectives on what is happening to us as humans on this planet with the surge of social media and the very manipulative processes that bad actors use to influence us,” Pandith said. “...[W]e are losing because we are not culturally listening…to the experience of Muslim Millennials and Generation Z. …[T]here is a singular point that connects Muslim Millennials and Generation Z around the world, and that is the issue of identity, who am I and what’s the difference between culture and religion.”

The panelists also interacted with the seminar participants, answering their questions and providing feedback on how they could better reach their objectives.

“To be more effective from a policy point of view, my sense coming out of this experience is that we need to work with positive messages that resonate with the intended audiences,” McCarthy said.

"The bottom line is that the United States, our partners and allies need to get better at telling our story. While we understand that narratives have their foundation in policy goals and national interests, what we too often forget is that successful narratives are constructed more in the eye of the beholder than by the communicator," said Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Combating Terrorism Andrew Knaggs, who moderated the panelists.

 

Sovereign Challenge was established by USSOCOM in 2004 and is focused on preserving the sovereignty of independent nations. Several Sovereign Challenge events are held annually to bring together foreign defense attaches and associated diplomats and experts to develop a trusted network serving the interests of sovereign nations and their security.


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