Publications

The contemporary operating environment (COE) has been characterized by the increased appearance of non-state actors (NSAs) and other types of irregular forces in violent conflict, as well as the exploitation of the information environment (information environment) by adversaries to shape and manage narratives and the conduct of ‘informational warfare’. Although NATO has achieved, on the whole, technical overmatch in the areas of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); in non-permissive and denied areas against NSAs and irregular forces, NATO faces substantial challenges in achieving asymmetric advantage in the information environment. In addition, NATO has been slow to embrace and exploit the broad range of opportunities to engage in influence/informational warfare. The result has been the domination of the information environment by a range of state and non-state adversaries. Moreover, it can be argued that a new phase in the evolution of warfare has emerged – one in which the information environment is the contentious battleground and communication is the preferred method over traditional and conventional kinetic approaches to achieve desired behavioral outcomes. This handbook presents case studies intended to assist Information Operations personnel to better understand the current information space as well as to identify emergent threats to the information environment.