“If You Have a Hammer…”: Shaping the Armed Forces’ Discourse on Information Maneuver

Abstract

The dawn of cyberspace has been conducive to unlocking the potential of the information environment. As a result, armed forces embrace concepts of engagement in the information environment, in cyberspace, and especially in information maneuver—the concept of generating effects in the information environment. Unfortunately, some within the military remit perceive information maneuver as the “2.0 version” of existing intelligence capabilities emphasizing the digitization of the battlefield. While enhanced intelligence, understanding, and decisionmaking are essential, information maneuver is, above all, a means to act and generate effects in the cognitive, virtual, or physical dimension similar to deception, propaganda, or covert actions. The concept of information maneuver must not be seen as an “add on” to existing capabilities within the military instrument of power but instead as a way of exerting power and achieving effects within the remit of information as an instrument, away from the traditional physical military approach to conduct operations.