Dawn of the Cognetic Age

Fighting Ideological War by Putting Thought in Motion with Impact
Lt Col Bruce K. Johnson, USAF*

Editorial Abstract: Colonel Johnson uses the term “cognetic” to mean putting thought into motion, ideally with global impact. Militant Islam has proven very adept at exploiting the cognetic realm to foment disillusionment and advance its agenda. The author urges the United States, starting with policy makers responsible for national security, to adopt and apply cognetic thinking in order to reorient US grand strategy so that the nation can wage and win ideological warfare.

Read the whole thing at http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/a...7/johnson.html

This article advocates adopting cognetic thinking to create a shared, systematic way of conceptualizing, communicating, and carrying out ideological warfare against militant Islam. It does so by applying principles of maneuver warfare so that we can understand our enemy’s use of global media as an ideological weapon of mass influence. Additionally, it encourages the use of cognetic thinking to conduct a rigorous risk-versus-return analysis of post-9/11 security policies vis-à-vis militant Islam in an effort to create a sustainable and effective grand strategy to win the long war. This requires championing policies that constructively build and maintain US and allied resolve to fight, attract the uncommitted to our side, and drain away militant Islam’s desire to continue fighting.

Cognetics is a new concept of ideological warfare, based on principles of maneuver warfare. Referred to as “blitzkrieg of the mind,” it occurs in a virtual place created by global media. Time and space, which constrain physical maneuver, are almost nonexistent here. The term cognetic effect expresses how the emotive content of messages delivered by global media influences public opinion and behavior. A force multiplier, cognetic effect empowers nonstate actors to influence public opinion and behavior on a global scale. By means of cognetics, the United States can win ideological warfare by advancing truth, dispelling rumors, correcting misinformation, and combating enemy psychological operations and perception influence.

Killing people and breaking things until the hostiles touch the pen and return to the reservation doesn't work so well when the hostiles don't have much to break and view their casualties as martyrs, and can convince the domestic target audience that the casualties are "innocent victims of Western imperialism."

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Originally Posted by Cannoneer No. 4

Fighting Ideological War by Putting Thought in Motion with Impact
Lt Col Bruce K. Johnson, USAF*

Editorial Abstract: Colonel Johnson uses the term “cognetic” to mean putting thought into motion, ideally with global impact. Militant Islam has proven very adept at exploiting the cognetic realm to foment disillusionment and advance its agenda. The author urges the United States, starting with policy makers responsible for national security, to adopt and apply cognetic thinking in order to reorient US grand strategy so that the nation can wage and win ideological warfare.

Read the whole thing at http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/a...7/johnson.html

This article advocates adopting cognetic thinking to create a shared, systematic way of conceptualizing, communicating, and carrying out ideological warfare against militant Islam. It does so by applying principles of maneuver warfare so that we can understand our enemy’s use of global media as an ideological weapon of mass influence. Additionally, it encourages the use of cognetic thinking to conduct a rigorous risk-versus-return analysis of post-9/11 security policies vis-à-vis militant Islam in an effort to create a sustainable and effective grand strategy to win the long war. This requires championing policies that constructively build and maintain US and allied resolve to fight, attract the uncommitted to our side, and drain away militant Islam’s desire to continue fighting.

Cognetics is a new concept of ideological warfare, based on principles of maneuver warfare. Referred to as “blitzkrieg of the mind,” it occurs in a virtual place created by global media. Time and space, which constrain physical maneuver, are almost nonexistent here. The term cognetic effect expresses how the emotive content of messages delivered by global media influences public opinion and behavior. A force multiplier, cognetic effect empowers nonstate actors to influence public opinion and behavior on a global scale. By means of cognetics, the United States can win ideological warfare by advancing truth, dispelling rumors, correcting misinformation, and combating enemy psychological operations and perception influence.

Killing people and breaking things until the hostiles touch the pen and return to the reservation doesn't work so well when the hostiles don't have much to break and view their casualties as martyrs, and can convince the domestic target audience that the casualties are "innocent victims of Western imperialism."

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This is the right direction in an oveall context but I'm not so sure how new a concept it is considering the historic search for Philosopher Kings.

There is probably good reason behind many leaders in history sending their children who would be future leaders to various places in order to learn philosophy and warfare.

Just a thought ...

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Originally Posted by Cannoneer No. 4

Killing people and breaking things until the hostiles touch the pen and return to the reservation doesn't work so well when the hostiles don't have much to break and view their casualties as martyrs, and can convince the domestic target audience that the casualties are "innocent victims of Western imperialism."

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Great topic!

I was struck some time ago by how similar is this to the ideological (and so-called "ColdWar") which was for the most part fought by the enemy through proxy military forces, yet which resulted in much of the same type of propaganda.

Hasn't the Islamist's "ideological jihad" taken a page directly from the old Soviet playbook? Or have America's and the West's residual enemies in the former-Soviet Union been covertly coached the command group of ideological jihad (Ayman al-Zawahiri) in a viable methodology to use against us?

There was a report page A1 of the Wall Street Journal back on July 2, 2002 by Andrew Higgins and Alan Cullison entitled "How a Secret, Failed Trip to Chechnya Turned Key Plotter’s Focus to America and bin Laden.”

In the article the authors reported that Ayman al-Zawahiri was apprehended at a roadblock near Derbent, Russia and subsequently came to be in the custody of the Russian FSB for the following 6 months, and just prior to joining with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda and their declaration of Jihad against us. An archived copy of this article is available here.

I also hope to be able to provide some additional insider insight into the above work by LTC Johnson.

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Originally Posted by Sean Osborne

Hasn't the Islamist's "ideological jihad" taken a page directly from the old Soviet playbook? Or have America's and the West's residual enemies in the former-Soviet Union been covertly coached the command group of ideological jihad (Ayman al-Zawahiri) in a viable methodology to use against us?

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Did we really win the Cold War?

Graphic from Dr. Sanity:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23...tmodernism.gif

Dang that is a cool graphic.

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Cannoneer No. 4: Did we really win the Cold War?

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I know that I've thought at least a few times that we didn't beat the most persistent Ideological opponents we faced in the Cold War; the ones on this side of the old Iron Curtain.

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Originally Posted by Norfolk

we didn't beat the most persistent Ideological opponents we faced in the Cold War; the ones on this side of the old Iron Curtain.

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The Soviet Union went away and World Communism broke up into environmentalism, post-modernism, multi-culturalism, Transnational Progressivism, and a bunch of other -isms, and America didn't lift a finger to bring fellow travelers and Useful Idiots to account.

They're still out there, getting away with it.

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Originally Posted by Cannoneer No. 4

The Soviet Union went away and World Communism broke up into environmentalism, post-modernism, multi-culturalism, Transnational Progressivism, and a bunch of other -isms, and America didn't lift a finger to bring fellow travelers and Useful Idiots to account.

They're still out there, getting away with it.

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And ideologically they still exist in postions of power within Russia, its government and every nation once occupied by the Soviet Empire.

They also exist in Mexico, Cuba, Central and South America.

Of primary import to myself is their existence within our own society (government and non-government) because the U.S. Constitution is their primary, 25-meter target.

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Originally Posted by Cannoneer No. 4

The Soviet Union went away and World Communism broke up into environmentalism, post-modernism, multi-culturalism, Transnational Progressivism, and a bunch of other -isms, and America didn't lift a finger to bring fellow travelers and Useful Idiots to account.

They're still out there, getting away with it.

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Wow, I managed three of the four post-communist evil "isms". I might even be a postmodernist, if postmodernists were able to resolve the intrinsic philosophical dilemma of the ambiguous subjectivity of meaning. Then again, I might be. It is always so hard to tell (as any postmodernist will tell you).

More importantly, I am more than a little perturbed that our evil plot for a world of fair trade coffee, McChicken tikka masala, and the better protection of human rights around the world has now been revealed as the post-communist totalitarian plot that it always was.

I think I'll now retire to my secret jungle island hideout (you know, the one with the death-ray hidden in the volcano) to plot our next move....

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Originally Posted by Rex Brynen

Wow, I managed three of the four post-communist evil "isms".

I think I'll now retire to my secret jungle island hideout (you know, the one with the death-ray hidden in the volcano) to plot our next move....

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Hey, before thee fires up the death-ray, please keep in mind I'm only a skant 250 clicks from the coffee trade border and the highest point in Estonski is but 300 meters :D