We are at war - a war of ideas. Where the cognitive domain is the battlefield, ammunition is content, and the strategic advantage is emotion.
Influence and psychological operations have been a part of every conflict but have recently entered the spotlight as the information environment has expanded and much of the world operates in hyperconnected information ecosystems.
Messages, images, and videos are streaming at people at unimaginable rates, enriching the cognitive warfare landscape. Massive amounts of content and the growing distrust in media and institutions make it easy for malign actors to seed disinformation campaigns, generate narratives that divide, and evoke emotion among target populations. These circumstances provide the foundation for a quieter, more insidious conflict, and it is happening right now.
The US is engaged in an active conflict, not over territory, but over minds. This is cognitive warfare, and it poses a growing threat to the national security of the United States.
What is Cognitive Warfare?
Cognitive warfare refers to the manipulation of perception, emotion, and decision-making through the use of disinformation, psychological operations, and influence tactics. Its impact is not made with explosives or gunfire, but the fallout is equally detrimental in modern conflict.
Cognitive warfare targets human cognition, shaping how individuals perceive truth and reality.
Actors in cognitive warfare are strategic and exploit a combination of tools, including social media manipulation, artificial intelligence, deepfakes, algorithmic targeting, and even cultural narratives. Their goals range from fomenting societal discord to instilling situational fear and disseminating falsehoods about military operations.
Why does Cognitive Warfare matter to the US?
Bottom line up front: Adversarial nations like China and Russia are aggressively engaging in cognitive warfare and spending a significant amount of money to do so. Not only does the US need to have a comprehensive assessment of these attacks, but the US must proactively protect its citizens, particularly military members, from cognitive warfare tactics.
Countries like Russia and China have developed sophisticated influence toolkits, often blending truth with fiction to confuse, divide, and paralyze populations—and it's working. Such campaigns are undermining the US’s interest abroad.
To counter cognitive threats, the US must do more than defend—it must gain primacy in the information domain. To achieve this, the US needs to place a greater emphasis on information and influence operations, utilizing tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) to gain an advantage over near-peer adversaries.
Understanding cognitive tactics and influence campaigns requires situational awareness and a solid assessment of the information environment. Leveraging artificial intelligence is the most effective way to analyze how influence campaigns are structured and who's behind them.
Social Media is the Breeding Ground for Influence Operations
With its massive reach and engagement-driven algorithms, social media is arguably the fastest and most powerful way to execute an information operation. Furthermore, the bot-enabled content distribution magnifies the impact of a campaign.
Hidden within social media platforms are robust networks that intentionally generate, spread, and engage with content designed to evoke emotions or drive a particular narrative. Understanding social media networks is a crucial step in situational awareness and navigating the information environment.
AI tools, such as Knowledge Engines and Expert AI Agents, can simultaneously scan various social media platforms, extracting valuable data, including network patterns, narrative hierarchies, and trends, as well as key data points from images and videos. AI-generated analytics help identify the basis of some influence campaigns more quickly than humanly possible, enabling information professionals to plan counter campaigns and protect against future instances.
For the US to defend against and engage in cognitive operations effectively, it must invest in the following:
- Real-time sentiment analysis to track public emotional responses.
- Behavioral analytics to understand how narratives influence actions.
- AI-powered monitoring tools that identify early signs of psychological manipulation or narrative shifts.
Winning the War of Perception
Cognitive warfare is not science fiction—it is already happening.
For the United States, action is required, and the answer lies in a combination of vigilance, strategic influence, and public awareness. In the war of perception, speed, insight, and adaptability decide the outcome. With AI-powered agents that think like your best analysts, the U.S. can gain decision advantage, counter hostile influence, and shape the narrative battlespace—before it shapes us.