Episodes

  • #191 Jose Davis on Public Affairs Integration and Leveraging AI for Operations in the Information Environment

    #191 Jose Davis on Public Affairs Integration and Leveraging AI for Operations in the Information Environment
    May 21 2024
    The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, US Air Force Captain Jose Davis discusses his paper, which is entitled: "Leveraging AI for Operations in the Information Environment: 3 Demonstrations in Disinformation, Social Media, and Entropy." The paper focuses on the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the realm of Operations in the Information Environment (OIE), particularly for the Air Force. The paper presents three case studies demonstrating how AI can positively impact OIE and advocates for direct AI research in this area. Additionally, he’ll recap an information campaign that US Air Forces in Europe conducted to assure Baltic NATO Allies, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Recording Date: 24 April 2024 Research Questions: Jose Davis suggests as interested student examine: What other common metrics can be developed or researched for assessing the Information Environment, tailor-made for the national security needs and useful for IO and PA operators?What are the practical outcomes in the Information Environment (a complex system) when entropy is influenced, pushed either higher or lower? e.g. Hypothetically, when high entropy is present, humans deploy simplifying heuristics, so this should help improve Key Leader Engagements’ (KLE) timing and improve KLE dossiers. Or with PA/IO, high entropy hypothetically may demand a simplified messaging campaign.In what other ways can AI be leveraged to combat nefarious AI use for disinformation?The ideas of watermarking or safeguarding content from manipulation from nefarious Generative AI are a form of immunization, advancing Inoculation Theory as a whole. What other preventative measures along the lines of immunization can be taken to combat disinformation? Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #46 Pat Ryder on Public Affairs and Strategic Communications #174 Kara Masick on Assessment Insights from Program Evaluation #183 Julie Janson on Air Force IO Talent and Strategy Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence Universal adversarial perturbations by Seyed-Mohsen Moosavi-Dezfooli, Alhussein Fawzi, Omar Fawzi, and Pascal FrossardPre-trained Adversarial Perturbations by Yuanhao Ban, Yinpeng Dong Automating OIE with Large Language Models by Cpt Alexander Sferrella, Cpt Joseph Conger, and Maj Kara MasickClaude Shannon AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future by former Google technologist Kai-Fu Lee and science fiction writer Chen Qiufan. I’m a huge advocate of using story to educate. For those new to AI or wanting to understand AI’s societal impact, this is my go-to book. Written in a series of fictional short stories with in-depth essay analysis at the end of each, the book teaches AI while making it entertaining. A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman. I think every Information Warfare professional should know who Claude Shannon is and read his “magna carta” of the Information Age, The Mathematical Theory of Communication. My intellectual hero, this exceptional biography brings the man to life — a polymath, a tinkerer, an innovator.“Attention is all You Need” by Ashish Vaswani et al. This is the seminal paper advancing the Transformer architecture which made Generative AI like ChatGPT possible. Liken this paper to Einstein’s book on Relativity or Newton’s Principia. Information Theory: Structural Models for Qualitative Data by Klaus Krippendorff Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio: Jose is a Public Affairs Officer for Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. He has over 14 years of experience in integrated communications, both in the public and private sectors. He is accredited in Public Relations and Military Communications through the Public Relations Society of America. In his current role, he ensures the strategic communication of accurate and timely information about the command’s 104-country area of operations. He played a pivotal role at NATO in combating misinformation before, during and after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He just finished a rigorous six-month fellowship at a DoD-sponsored AI Accelerator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gaining exposure to some of the brightest and best minds in AI and Machine Learning technologies. As part of his fellowship, Jose was required to apply his newly acquired AI foundational knowledge to produce a research paper addressing a problem or issue facing the U.S. Air Force. The paper is slated for publication in the U.S. Air Force’s Air and Space Operations Review journal. ...
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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • #190 Army Command and General Staff Information Advantage Scholars Symposium

    #190 Army Command and General Staff Information Advantage Scholars Symposium
    May 17 2024
    The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, we learn about the US Army’s Command and General Staff College Information Advantage Scholar Program. Two officers from the 2024 IA Scholar cohort–Army MAJs Vincent Michel and Josh Keller–present their research and also discuss their overall experience. Additionally, Cognitive Crucible listeners are invited to the Command and General Staff College Information Advantage Symposium on 22 May 2024. Recorded on: May 2, 2024 Research Questions: MAJ Michel suggests as interested student examine: What are the necessary steps a unit must take to isolate a prevalent actor within the narrative space?Are there additional factors that influence the narrative space and consolidation of gains? MAJ Keller suggests as interested student examine: Primary Research Question: How can Collateral Damage Estimation (CDE) adapt to accommodate nonlethal effects against satellite communication architecture?Secondary Research Question: How can CJCSI 3370.01 Target Development Standards accommodate entity-level target development for satellite communication architecture on orbit? What are the resulting impacts to intelligence and targeting professionals? Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #166 John Agnello on Information Advantage Command and General Staff College Information Advantage Symposium – May 22 | Command and General Staff College Foundation, Inc. (cgscfoundation.org) Army Space Vision Supporting Multi-domain OperationsTE Lawrence Army Doctrine Publication 3-13, Information Advantage Dangerous Narratives: Warfare, Strategy, Stagecraft by Maan, Clark, Steed, Drohan, Nesic, Holshek, Straub, Ronfeldt, and Arquilla The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why by Richard E. Nisbett The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power by Jacob Helberg The Battle Beyond: Fighting and Winning the Coming War in Space by Paul Szymanski and Jerry DrewIke Skelton Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) Digital Library Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bios: Guest #1: Vincent Michel, U.S. ArmyInformation Operations, Military Intelligence, Armor Thesis: The Other Side to the Story: Consolidation of Gains and the Narrative Space Education:2018, M.A. Criminal Justice, American Military University 2013, B.A. Criminology, University of New Mexico Past Assignments:Mission Command IO Project Officer, MXCDID, Futures Concept Center, AFC, Ft. Leavenworth, KS Recruiting Company Commander, Evansville, IN Future Assignment: IO Team Leader, 11th Cyber BN Guest #2: Joshua Keller, U.S. ArmySpace Operations, Field Artillery Thesis:ADAPTING TARGETING POLICY FOR NONLETHAL EFFECTS ON SATELLITE COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTUREEducation: 2012, M.A. Quantitative and Psychological Foundations, University of Iowa 2010, B.A. Psychology, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Past Assignments:Deputy OIC, SPCT #3, 1st Space BN, Ft Carson, CO Assistant Ops Officer, 1st Space BDE, Ft Carson, CO Future Assignment: 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) Space Operations Officer, Ft Liberty, NC About: The Information Professionals Association (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, 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.
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    47 mins
  • #189 Todd Wilcox on PAI, OSINT, and Regulations

    #189 Todd Wilcox on PAI, OSINT, and Regulations
    May 7 2024

    The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

    During this episode, Todd Wilcox discusses national security considerations related to publicly available information (PAI), open source intelligence (OSINT), and related regulations.

    Research Question: Todd Wilcox suggests a valuable topic for academic research would be the application of regulatory framework around the collection, storage, manipulation and application of personally identifiable information (PII). With the comprehensive discretion of current regulatory requirements imposed by CCPA in US and GDPR in the EU, compare and contrast these two regulations and provide a proposed standard that could be used to build federal legislation to protect the privacy of digital device users in the US.

    Recording Date: 16 April 2024

    Resources:

    • Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
      • #129 Eliot Jardines on Open Source Intelligence
    • Patriot Defense Group
    • A History of Protecting Freedom Where Law and Technology Collide
    • Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

    Link to full show notes and resources

    Guest Bio: Todd Wilcox is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Patriot Defense. He founded Patriot Defense in 2005 with the purpose of Serving those who defend America. Todd is a decorated combat veteran, former CIA case officer, and a successful entrepreneur and business leader.

    About: The Information Professionals Association (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, 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.
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • #188 Joanna Siekiera on China

    #188 Joanna Siekiera on China
    Apr 23 2024

    The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

    During this episode, Dr. Joanna Siekiera discusses how China is integrating itself into global affairs from a lawfare perspective.

    Research Question: Joanna Siekiera suggests an interested student ask: “Why”? Students should always start research from this question as it will help you understand who is benefiting from certain actions and omissions. In which domain are they benefiting? What are the true interests? And who is paying for all of that? We must stay pragmatic in order to see the true, not anticipatory research outcomes.

    Resources:

    • Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
      • #150 Jill Goldenziel on China and the Philippines
      • #151 Daniel Runde on Chinese Soft Power
    • Seafloor Mining
    • Dragons in the West: Chinese Communist Party Threats in Europe and the Imperative of a Strategic Pivot by Joanna Siekiera
    • What We Know About Deep-sea Mining — And What We Don’t
    • "21st Century as the Pacific Century: Culture and Security of Oceania States in Great Power Competition" by Joanna Siekiera
    • "Security in Indo-Pacific and development of Oceania: Commonwealth’s presence in the region" by Joanna Siekiera

    Link to full show notes and resources

    Guest Bio: Joanna Siekiera is an international lawyer, legal advisor, Doctor of Public Policy. She is a fellow at the Marine Corps University and NATO Maritime Security Center of Excellence in Türkiye. Her areas of expertise are law of armed conflict (lawfare, legal culture in armed conflict, NATO legal framework) and the Indo-Pacific region, and Pacific law.

    About: The Information Professionals Association (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, 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.
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    41 mins
  • #187 Randy Rosin on Reflexive Control

    #187 Randy Rosin on Reflexive Control
    Apr 9 2024
    The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dr. Randy Rosin returns to the Cognitive Crucible to discuss the “trippy” topic of reflexive control. Soviet influence practitioners favor an indirect approach. Reflexive control is the process of conveying the basis of decision-making from one person to another. Research Question: Randy Rosin suggests an interested student examine: How can reflexive processes be applied in the creation of strategies to obtain desirable results in scenarios of either conflict, competition, or cooperation? Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #7 Randy Rosin on Russia and Applied Cybernetics #100 Rand Waltzman on the Metaverse and Immersive Virtual Reality Propaganda Universe: Propaganda has become the dominant form of public discourse in the information age. Propaganda Universe is dedicated to helping citizens, journalists, scholars, and policy-makers understand the nature of propaganda, disinformation, and information warfare in order to identify and resist manipulative communication. Preserving our ability to think independently, both as individuals and as a society, is crucial to being able to decide what is in our own best interests and not those of others.Norbert WienerHeinz von FoersterDialectical MaterialismDigital Forensics Research LabDiane Chotikul, The Soviet Theory of Reflexive Control in Historical and Psychocultural Perspective: A Preliminary Study, July 1986. Russian Operations in Georgia: Lessons Identified Versus Lessons Learned by Keir Giles Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President: What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know by Kathleen Hall Jamieson Structure of Awareness: Symbolic Language Human Reflection by Vladimir A. Lefebvre Link to full show notes and resources Guest Bio: Dr. Randy Rosin is a faculty member of the National Intelligence University in Bethesda, Maryland who teaches courses in propaganda, foreign information and cyber strategy, cyber threat intelligence, denial and deception, and leadership. He is a 32-year active-duty Army veteran who has served in combat arms, psychological operations, information operations, as a middle eastern foreign area officer, and in human intelligence operations. Notably serving as the information operations chief in Iraq, at US Central Command, and as the Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché in Yemen. His research interests are on the confluence of technology and manipulative communication with a particular focus on the development of information-based theoretical frameworks. About: The Information Professionals Association (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, 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.
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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • #186 Rod Korba on Vygotsky’s Inner Speech

    #186 Rod Korba on Vygotsky’s Inner Speech
    Mar 26 2024

    The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

    During this episode, Vygotsky was a seminal figure in Soviet Psychology. His multi-staged—social learning theory of cognitive development—has influenced generations of cognitive psychologists.

    Our discussion today focuses on Vygotsky’s frequently overlooked and generally under-estimated concept of inner speech: or the use of internal words (and their idiosyncratic meanings) that differ in structure & function from the same words used in external speech—which are developed for public consumption.

    For Vygotsky, inner speech serves as an important catalyst and a dynamic process of adaptation linking the “self” to society—not only for acquiring social or conventional word meaning in external language, but for eventually establishing private or personal word meaning—that fosters one’s self identity. For Vygotsky, inner speech is the primary tool for mentation—the ability to think conceptually through language.

    Vygotsky’s internal language and inner speech mediate the differences between public and private thought. In this sense, inner speech is an indispensable, private tool of comprehension: a clandestine, personal shorthand that fires memory, evokes macro-concepts represented by word meanings, and serves as the catalyst for individual identity—through the continually developing concept of self.

    Research Question: Rod Korda suggests an interested student investigate: a participatory way of developing a framework to measure word meaning–especially in a cultural context. If successful, this kind of tool can become an input into measuring messaging effectiveness.

    Resources:

    • YouTube Presentation

    Link to full show notes and resources

    Guest Bio:

    About: The Information Professionals Association (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, 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.
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    1 hr and 18 mins
  • #185 Becky Fair and Hannah Lincoln on Disrupt and Overwhelm Strategies

    #185 Becky Fair and Hannah Lincoln on Disrupt and Overwhelm Strategies
    Mar 12 2024

    The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.


    Our conversation covers Two-Six’s analysis methodology for creating their biannual Media Manipulation Monitor (M3) report which chronicles China’s efforts and presents strategies for achieving information advantage.

    Research Question: Becky and Hannah suggest an interested student examine how China’s influence online compares to everything else that’s influencing other people online. Because there’s a lot of evidence that China is doing a lot online to influence people’s minds, but not a lot of evidence that China has been successful except in a few cases and in a few countries.

    Resources:

    • Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
      • #144 Nick Eberstadt on Demographics
    • Chinese Politics in the Xi Jinping Era: Reassessing Collective Leadership by Cheng Li
    • Middle Class Shanghai: Reshaping U.S.-China Engagement by Cheng Li
    • Censored: Distraction and Diversion Inside China's Great Firewall by Dr. Molly Roberts
    • Intelligence Matters podcast: Chinese Cognitive Warfare

    Link to full show notes and resources

    Guest Bio:

    Becky Fair is the Vice President of Information Advantage at Two Six Technologies. She spent a decade as a CIA officer in a variety of roles and brings a deep understanding of the national security community mission sets. She was the CEO and co-founder of Thresher, a software company acquired by Two Six Technologies, that uses unique data sets and machine learning to help decision makers in government and industry detect and measure information operations. She started her career working in Russia at the International Finance Corporation, a division of the World Bank.

    Hannah Lincoln is the Analysis Lead for the M3 team at Two Six Technologies. She spent a decade in China during its late economic boom years (2008-2018), where she worked in consumer research for a variety of multinational companies. Research on Chinese consumers was a natural segue into China intelligence analysis. Ms. Lincoln moved back to the US in 2018 and switched to OSINT analysis with a focus on Chinese censorship, propaganda, and disinformation at Thresher, now part of Two Six Technologies.

    About: The Information Professionals Association (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, 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.
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    48 mins
  • #184 Curtis Fox on Hybrid Warfare

    #184 Curtis Fox on Hybrid Warfare
    Feb 27 2024

    The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

    During this episode, Curtis Fox discusses his new book: Hybrid Warfare: The Russian Approach to Strategic Competition and Conventional Military Conflict. Curtis Fox utilizes a series of case studies on historic Russian operations to demonstrate that while Russia’s methods appear to be cloaked in a shadow of mystique, their strategic realities make them consistent and predictable.

    Resources:

    • Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
      • #144 Nick Eberstadt on Demographics
    • Hybrid Warfare: The Russian Approach to Strategic Competition and Conventional Military Conflict
    • About Curtis Fox
    • Hybrid Warfare: The Russian Approach to Strategic Competition and Conventional Military Conflict by Curtis Fox
    • Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared M. Diamond

    Link to full show notes and resources

    Guest Bio:

    Curtis Lee Fox is the son of a West Texas cotton farmer and a Kentucky kindergarten teacher. He was raised in Texas and Virginia, and studied Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he lived next door to his future wife Katie.

    They eventually met after Curtis volunteered to help Katie’s roommates move furniture. Despite being accepted to the graduate engineering program at Virginia Tech under a research assistant-ship, Curtis chose to enlist in the Army. He was selected to attend the Special Forces Qualification Course, learned to speak Russian, won his Green Beret, and served in the 10th Special Forces Group.

    After completing his time in service, Curtis studied at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, earning a Master’s of Business Administration. Curtis and Katie married in 2017, and they now reside in Northern Virginia where Curtis works as a systems engineer and project manager. They celebrated the birth of their daughter Ginny in 2021.

    As believing Christians, Curtis and Katie are involved in their Church.

    “We change the world by changing ourselves. It’s only by letting go of grand-scale visions, the need to re-make the world ‘as it should be’, and by focusing on the development of our own consciences that our families and communities begin to transcend the meager existence that is man’s inheritance on Earth. The alleviation from unnecessary suffering, or perhaps from the habits of mind that produce suffering, is a direct result of the redemption of each individual human heart.”

    About: The Information Professionals Association (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, 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.
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    50 mins