The Cognitive Crucible

During this episode, Steven Bradley discusses threat intelligence, Department of Homeland Security Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), and the newly formed Cognitive Security Intelligence Center. Click here for full show notes & resources Steven Bradley works at the intersection of technology, security operations, and policy to advance U.S. national cyber defense. He has over 20 years of experience managing the development and application of advanced data analytics solutions to support a variety of national security missions, including cybersecurity, through his work at the Department of Energy National Laboratories. He has also led cyber threat intelligence teams engaged in threat analysis, attack simulation and threat hunting. In July 2020 he became the director of the newly-formed Cognitive Security Intelligence Center, and in August, he published a paper through the Carnegie Endowment Partnership for Countering Influence Operations entitled: "Securing the United States from Online Disinformation—A Whole-of-Society Approach." IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

During this episode, Dr. Boyd Brown discusses the history of military deception with examples. Then, the conversation shifts to current day deception technology in cyberspace. Dr. Brown describes new cyber defenses which place intruders into a hall of mirrors which wastes the enemy's time while simultaneously collecting valuable intelligence about enemy intent. Click here for full show notes & resources Dr. Barton Boyd Brown is a retired US Army Information Operations officer and President of Lexington Solutions Group. As a member of the first cohort of Army IO officers, Dr. Brown has planned and executed IO for conventional and special operations forces in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, and around the globe. His military IO assignments include service at the Land Information Warfare Activity as a Field Support Team Chief and later as the J3 Information Operations Division Chief for Joint Special Operations Command. Upon retiring from the Army in 2006, Dr. Brown joined Booz Allen Hamilton, where he supported clients across the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. In 2014, he founded Lexington Solutions Group to provide national security, strategic communication, and management consulting services to both government and commercial clients. IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

This is a special 90-minute bonus episode of the Cognitive Crucible. On October 29th 2020, IPA and AFCEA's ALAMO Chapter co-hosted a Virtual Panel on Combatting Disinformation in a Competitive Information Environment. The star-studded panel of senior government personnel and thought leaders spotlights the current pivot toward a convergence approach to improve our competitive advantage across the strategic and operational environments, most specifically in the cyber-enabled information space. The event slide deck is available here. Across the National and Defense enterprise, agencies and organizations are reprioritizing and reorganizing to more effectively compete in a competitive and complex global information environment. The Nation is being increasingly impacted by cutting-edge technology and sophisticated influence activities to shape perceptions, decisions and behavior. The discussion is framed by the recently released Defense Science Board study regarding global competition in the information environment, includes ongoing efforts, and as well as new initiatives to support USG and DOD priorities in cognitive security such establishing a Cognitive Security Proving Ground, re-establishing the Phoenix Challenge information operations conference series, and discussion of the newly-established Principal Information Operations Advisor to the Secretary of Defense. Moderated by Mr. Austin Branch; the star-studded panelists are: Ms. Lynne Patrick, Technical Director at Sixteenth Air Force Joint Base San Antonio Dr. Brian Pierce, Visiting Research Scientist at the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS) LTG (RET.) Ed Cardon, Former Commander of US Army Cyber Command, and Commander JTF ARES Mr. Rob "Bus" Bussian, Director for Cyber and Strategic Enabling in the Concepts, Development and Management Office under the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force Mr. Bob Pearson, Social media expert, author, professor, digital consultant Mr. Joe Kelly, Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security and President of Pointweaver, LLC For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn.

During this episode, we have a wide ranging conversation with futurist, Brian David Johnson (or BDJ). Threastcasting is an innovative, interdisciplinary technique being used by a wide range of organizations and institutions to create actionable models to comprehend possible futures and identify, track, disrupt, mitigate and recover from them as well. Threatcasting bridges gaps and prompts information exchange and learning across military, academics, industrial and governmental communities. Click here for full show notes & resources Brian David Johnson is a Professor of Practice & Director of the Threatcasting Lab at Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society, and a Futurist and Fellow at Frost & Sullivan, a innovation company that's focused on growth. Brian works with governments, militaries, trade organizations, and startups to help them envision their future. He has over 40 patents and is the author of a number of books of fiction and nonfiction. He's also directed two feature films, and is an illustrator and commissioned painter. IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Marine Corps Colonel Brian Russell discusses his experiences with Joint Task Force ARES, allied and joint force partnerships, and lessons learned which are relevant for synchronizing operations in the Information Environment going forward. He also provides an overview of the Marine Corps' information operations capability: the Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group (II MEF Information Group) -- collect, protect, and project. Click here for full show notes & resources Colonel Brian Russell is the commanding officer of II Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group (II MIG) in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He commissioned as a Marine Corps Officer in December 1995 from North Carolina State University. Upon completion of basic officer training he went on to become a field artillery officer. His combat deployments include serving as the Military Transition Team Leader in Habbaniyah, Iraq, the executive officer of Brigade Headquarters Group in Helmand Province, Afghanistan and Plans Director in Bagram, Afghanistan. Some of his notable staff assignments include: Operations Directorate at Marine Corps Special Operations Command, Operations Directorate at United States Cyber Command, and U.S. Plans Directorate at Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command. IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

During this episode, Johannes Tammekänd discusses the evolution of deepfake technology and ways of countering the threat. He describes the dynamic as an arms race which requires increasingly sophisticated techniques to identify imagery, audio, and video which has been altered. Additionally, we discuss the upcoming United States Presidential election and the potential for a deepfake video to cause a major upheaval in the transfer of power. Johannes also describes the biggest systemic risk of deepfakes as fundamentally altering our perception of reality. Click here for full show notes & resources Bio: Johannes Tammekänd is the CEO & Co-Founder of Sentinel, an Estonian based startup which helps democratic governments, defense agencies and internal media counter the threat of deepfakes through an AI-based detection and exercise platform. Previously he worked in NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense (CCD) Center of Excellence (COE) as a cybersecurity expert and architected deep learning systems for Payload-Security which he exited to CrowdStrike. Find out more about and register for the 29 Oct 2020 Virtual Panel on Convergence and Information Advantage, which is co-sponsored by IPA and AFCEA Alamo Chapter. IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

During this episode, Dr. Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob drops by the Cognitive Crucible to discuss with John Bicknell his strategic communications research as well as his work with the United Nations global program focused on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) missions. Dr. Jacob observes that many strategic communications campaigns tend to focus on messaging and messaging strategy. He asserts, however, that these components should be secondary and that understanding networks is a critical component for any successful strategic communications campaign. Shifting the focus to networks and influences tends to drive social norms. We also discuss a course he teaches at the US Army War College: The Media in War and Peace which explores the role of the media in war and in peace including the techniques adopted by state and non-state actors to influence media performance before, during and after violent conflicts. Click here for full show notes & resources Bio: Dr. Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob is Visiting International Scholar in the International Studies program at Dickinson College. Dr. Jacob earned his Ph.D. in Communications Studies, with a focus on strategic communications, from the University of Leeds in the UK. Dr. Jacob has worked with the United Nations on the revision of the Public Information and Strategic communications module of the Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards during peace operations. He also leads Dickinson College's Bridge Program which provides educational opportunities to young people from regions of the world experiencing conflict and natural disasters—and for whom higher education would otherwise be impossible. Dr. Jacob co-leads the development of a methodological and ethical guide for violent extremism research at the RESOLVE Network--a research program hosted at the US Institute of Peace. Find out more about the Virtual Panel on Convergence and Information Advantage, which is co-sponsored by IPA and AFCEA Alamo Chapter. IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

During this discussion, Tom Kent joins The Cognitive Crucible to talk about his recent book: Striking Back: Overt and Covert Options to Combat Russian Disinformation. The wide ranging discussion covers the origins of Radio Free Europe, ethics, election meddling, and the story of The West. Click here for full show notes & resources Bio: Tom Kent teaches about Russian affairs and disinformation at Columbia University. He was president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty until 2018. Previously, he was Moscow bureau chief, international editor and standards editor of The Associated Press. He consults on disinformation, journalism and ethics for government, non-governmental organizations, media, and corporate clients. His new book: Striking Back: Overt and Covert Options to Combat Russian Disinformation will be published in September 2020. Find out more about the Virtual Panel on Convergence and Information Advantage, which is co-sponsored by IPA and AFCEA Alamo Chapter. IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

During this episode, we discuss with COL Mike Jackson and Dr. Paul Lieber their recently co-authored article "Countering Disinformation: Are We Our Own Worst Enemy?". Referencing Richard Stengle's recent book: Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do About it, Mike and Paul make the case that well intentioned people frequently resort to "tribalism" which has a nonproductive effect. In 2015, Mike was part of a EUCOM and Department of State combined effort called the Russia Information Group (or RIG); he recounts the stand up of the RIG and relates lessons learned for improving information operations going forward. We conclude by discussing what's at stake for America and our allies. Interested listeners should also check out: Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America by Christopher Wylie. Click here for full show notes & resources Colonel Michael Jackson is Chief for Plans, Policy, and Partnerships at the Cyber National Mission Force. He was previously the Senior Army Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. COL Jackson has served as an Information Operations officer since 2003 at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels -- collaborating with interagency partners, NATO Allies, and with partner nations. Dr. Paul Lieber is COLSA Corporation's Chief Scientist (Data & Social Science), where he specializes in communication influence. A Board Member of the Information Professionals Association, he previously served as the Command Writer for two USSOCOM Commanders, likewise Strategic Communication Advisor to Special Operations Command-Australia. Within academic environs, Dr. Lieber was full-time Graduate faculty at both civilian and military institutions. Find out more about the Virtual Panel on Convergence and Information Advantage, which is co-sponsored by IPA and AFCEA Alamo Chapter. IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Social media has become not just an essential communication space, but also a new kind of conflict space. Organized disinformation campaigns have proliferated, targeting everything from elections to corporations to public health. During this episode, we discuss with Doowan Lee disinformation and fake news related to crises--including the 2020 COVID pandemic. We also discuss national security threats in the information environment and the interplay between Russian and Chinese information operations. Click here for full show notes & resources Mr. Doowan Lee is the Senior Director of Research & Strategy at Zignal Labs, leading AI-empowered media intelligence analytics & influence risk solutions company. He leverages emerging AI technologies to support and enable open society & national security. Mr. Lee is a national security expert specializing in disinformation analysis and great power competition in the information environment. Before joining Zignal Labs, Mr. Lee was a faculty member and principal investigator at the Naval Postgraduate School where his work focused on countering violent extremist networks and authoritarian regimes. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn. Disclosure: 1) As an Amazon Associate IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.