How to Measure Strategic Influence: A New Science for National Security
Abstract:
The United States’ national security strategy is an influence strategy—the effectiveness of which cannot be measured. The strategy’s effectiveness is unmeasurable because influence operations still have not solved the assessment problem. The Department of Defense influence doctrine relies on unreliable practices from advertising and has never taken up a program of research to apply the very advanced psychological science of influence to the national security domain. Robust methods of operational design, variable control, and measurement are absent from national security influence, and there is no organization or mechanism to coordinate and deconflict operations across the whole of government.
AUTHORS
Office of the] Deputy Commandant for Information Headquarters Marine Corps
Washington, D.C., United States of America
Dr. Douglas Bryant is an IO Effects Specialist at Headquarters Marine Corps, Deputy Commandant for Information. He has supported the U.S. Defense Department and intelligence community as a Principal Social & Behavioral Scientist at The MITRE Corporation. Dr. Bryant is a former U.S. Army all-source intelligence officer. He served at U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) from 2011 through 2014 and the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force—Afghanistan in 2013. Dr. Bryant holds a master’s in psychology and a Ph.D. in cellular & behavioral neurobiology—psychology.
Published In
Journal of Information Warfare
The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.
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