to achieve through our deeds and images as well as spoken and written words. What really matters in politics, in commercial activities, and in warfare is the influence of groups and individuals that lead us to a specified, desired result. Put more directly, we want someone to do something that meaningfully aids our cause or, conversely, to cease do

of influencing target audiences. You cannot “information” someone to do something. Certainly, information exists. But by itself, information has no power to motivate; information only informs. Moreover, playing tank engine sounds, showing newsreel images, conducting tactical ruses, corrupting databases, conducting denigration operations, produc

For Russian and Chinese military thinkers, there is merely a change in the means used to achieve the ends sought, but the condition of political struggle is unchanged. The object of war remains the imposition of one’s will on an adversary This contrasts with the American view of how to influence. The Pentagon’s official term is information oper