Exposing the information domain myth a new concept for Air Force and information operations doctrine

Air and Space Power Journal

Volumn 22, Issue 1, 2008, Pages

  Weiss, Geoffrey F ^a  

^a USAF   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 45849136269     PISSN: 1555385X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (25)

1. Here, the term messages refers not to specifics such as e-mail, radio signals, or memoranda but to the general idea of any information transmission/reception by any means. For example, a carrier strike force sends a "message" because it creates perceptions in those observing it. The message is the information conveyed by the action or inaction of forces under our control and can include deception and psychological operations.
2. Many definitions of cyberspace exist, but perhaps the best is also the simplest and least constraining. Appropriately enough, one can find this term defined in an online dictionary as the "realm of electronic communication." Dictionary, com, http://dictionary.reference.com/ browse/cyberspace. Perhaps a better definition would be "the domain in which information moves or resides while in electromagnetic form." Examples of cyberspace include fiber-optic transmission lines, wireless signals, magnetic or optical storage devices, or computer chips.
3. Sun Tzu, The Art of War, trans. Samuel B. Griffith (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963), 66.
4. Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) 1, Air Force Basic Doctrine, 17 November 2003, ix, https://www.doctrine .af.mil/afdcprivateweb/AFDD_Page_HTML/ Doctrine_Docs/afdd1.pdf.
5. Ibid., 7.
6. Ibid., 3.
7. Cornerstones of Information Warfare (Washington, DC: Department of the Air Force, 1995), http://www.c4i.org/cornerstones.html;
8. see also Maj James L. Griffith, "United States Air Force Information Operations Doctrine: Is It Relevant?" (thesis, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, 2000), 49.
9. AFDD 2-5, Information Operations, 11 January 2005, [i] ("Summary of Revisions"), https://www.doctrine.af.mil/afdcprivateweb/ AFDD_Page_HTML/Doctrine_Docs/afdd2-5.pdf.
10. AFDD 2-5, Information Operations, 5 August 1998, v, http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/service_pubs/afd2_5.pdf (accessed 30 August 2006).
11. Lt Col Charles K. Hardy, "Information Operations as an Element of National Power: A Practitioner's Perspective on Why the United States Can't Get It Right," strategy research project (Carlisle Barracks, PA: US Army War College, 2005), 1, http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/ ksil126.pdf.
12. Maj Thomas J. Kardos, "Information Superiority: Seeking Command of the Cyber-Sea" (thesis, School of Advanced Military Studies, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KS, 2000), 5.
13. Maj Norman Emery, "Information Operations in Iraq," Military Review 84, no. 3 (May-June 2004): 11, http://calldp.leavenworth.army.mil/ eng_mr/2006080808030243/2004/03_May_Jun/04_emery.pdf#xml=/scripts/cqcgi.exe/ @ss_prod.env?CQ_SESSION_KEY=WSOMSUNSXHEQ&CQ_QH=124697&CQDC= 5&CQ_PDF_HIGHLIGHT=YES&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT-9.
14. Generally attributed to the immediate aftermath of the first Gulf War, ca. 1991.
15. Griffith, "United States Air Force Information Operations Doctrine," 47-48.
16. AFDD 2-5, Information Operations, 11 January 2005, 1.
17. AFDD 2, Operations and Organization, 3 April 2007, 21, https://www.doctrine.af.mil/afdcprivateweb/AFDD_Page_HTML/Doctrine_Docs/AFDD2. pdf.
18. SSgt C. Todd Lopez, "Cyber Summit Begins at Pentagon Nov. 16," Air Force Print News, 15 November 2006, http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp? storyID=123032005 (accessed 17 November 2006).
19. AFDD 2-5, Information Operations, 11 January 2005, 1.
20. AFDD 2, Operations and Organization, 13.
21. Ibid., 90.
22. SSgt Julie Weckerlein, "Strategic Communication Applies to Every Airman," Air Force Print News, 20 September 2006, http://www.af.mil/news/ story_print.asp?storyID=123027426 (accessed 17 November 2006).
23. For example, directed-energy weapons may operate and cause effects in air or space and from air or space; therefore, electronic warfare operations must not be a subcategory under air or space operations. They must remain separate. By placing electronic warfare operations outside the other domain-based doctrine categories, we are free to include doctrine on their use in any domain.
24. Secretary Michael W. Wynne and Gen T. Michael Moseley, "SECAF/CSAF Letter to Airmen: Mission Statement," 7 December 2005, http://www.af.mil/ library/viewpoints/jvp.asp?id=192;
25. and Michael W. Wynne, "Cyberspace as a Domain in Which the Air Force Flies and Fights" (remarks to the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Integration Conference, Crystal City, VA, 2 November 2006), http://www.af.mil/library/ speeches/speech.asp?id=283 (accessed 17 November 2006).