‘Central to everything we do’: Army unveils first-ever doctrine for ‘information’

WASHINGTON — Information has been a vital tool of victory since the first Stone Age warriors hid in ambush for a rival tribe. But with social media, satellite imagery, and surveillance drones generating ever-vaster amounts of data every day on soldiers and civilians alike, the ability to gather information, make sense of it, conceal it, and weaponize it has become more essential than ever before — not just to technical specialists but to combat commanders and even ordinary grunts.

That’s the message of a newly published Army doctrine manual, entitled simply titled “Information”.

The ambitious goal of the 144-page Army Doctrine Publication, ADP 3-13, is to reconcile the ancient and the new into a single coherent framework — one equally useful to a rifleman sneaking through the forest, a technician hacking hostile networks, a spokesperson combating disinformation, or a commander trying to coordinate all of the above.

Peppered with quotations from Sun Tzu, Napoleon, and even Roger’s Rangers of the French & Indian War, the manual highlights case studies like Russia’s 2014 seizure of Crimea and China’s pressure tactics in the Pacific to argue that information is and always has been essential to the art of war, but has taken on new prominence in the digital age.

“Information is central to everything we do,” writes Lt. Gen. Milford Beagle, commander of the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in the foreword of the new ADP 3-13, officially released on Monday. “ADP 3-13, Information, is the Army’s first publication dedicated to information, [because] advancements in information technologies and increased global connectivity continue to shape how we interact with each other and how forces fight… . It represents an evolution in how Army forces think.”

“We no longer regard information as a separate consideration or the sole purview of technical specialists,” Beagle writes. “Instead, we view information as a resource that is integrated into operations with all available capabilities in a combined arms approach.”

To put it less politely: Commanders who grew up in the infantry, tank corps, or other high-testosterone “combat arms” can no longer dismiss “information” as geek stuff to be handled by four-eyed specialists in psychological operations, intelligence, or cyber/electronic warfare — what one general derided as unintelligible “dolphin speak.” Instead, “ADP 3-13 is applicable to all members of the profession of arms,” the new manual says. “[All] commanders must understand information, integrating it in operations as carefully as [artillery] fires, maneuver, [force] protection, and sustainment.”

“All military capabilities can be employed for information advantage,” the manual says, “[and] creating and exploiting information advantages is a key aspect of multidomain operations.”

Tech certainly matters: Hacking or jamming the enemy’s wireless network so they can’t control their drones — while protecting your own nets from being attacked in return — is an example of using information to great military effect. But so are time-honored tactics like field camouflage, ambushes from a hidden position, or feint attacks to distract an enemy from the main line of advance.

Indeed, one of the most important and subtle points of the new doctrine is that in modern combat virtually every military action can be observed by friend and foe alike, providing information either side can use. Woe to the commander who doesn’t exploit true information and deny it to the enemy.

A peacetime exercise abroad can demonstrate American prowess, ability to deploy forces overseas, and commitment to work with allies — but it also can reveal US capabilities and weaknesses. A radio can transmit vital intelligence — but it can also reveal the user’s location to enemy precision weapons. A social media post by an official spokesperson, unit commander, or ordinary soldier can humanize the US military and share a good-news story — but it can also give away an impending operation, sometimes simply in the location metadata buried in a photo. A powerful attack can destroy the enemy’s best troops, showing the survivors they’re outmatched and should surrender — or enrage them to fight harder for revenge.

“An act that may break the will of one enemy may only serve to stiffen the resolve of another,” the manual warns.

To know which is which, American soldiers must study not only their enemies but also their target audiences among neutral, allied, and domestic US populations: “A group, faction, or nation’s prevailing narratives can provide a great deal of insight into how that group, faction, or nation might perceive Army operations.” Or, as Sun Tzu put it 2,500 years ago, in a quotation that opens one of the new Army manual’s chapters: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”

Alongside such lofty prescriptions, the new doctrine includes dozens of mundane best practices, from “burn or shred paper documents” — an oldschool tip that Robert E. Lee could have used at Antietam — to “locate antennas away from command posts” — a 21st century lesson from conflicts, like Ukraine, where precision-guided strikes have homed in on the telltale transmissions of headquarters units.

It also includes sections on cyber/electronic warfare, public relations (with a sharp legal distinction between truthfully “informing” US audiences and “influencing” hostile ones), and all sorts of staff planning procedures.

Yet even amidst the headquarters protocols, there are moments where “information” rises to the level of inspiration. The example of a well-written message from a commander to “internal” audiences, for instance, is Gen. Eisenhower’s famous D-Day letter to the troops invading Normandy:

“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you….”

In an era where every interaction, in the physical world or online, can leave a “digital wake” of information, the eyes of the world are upon US forces more than ever before — and American servicemembers need to understand that.