Cognitive Combat : China, Russia, and Iran’s Information War Against Americans

Curator note

China, Russia, and Iran are waging an information war against the United
States, yet many Americans do not realize they are under attack. Nor do
they appreciate that developments on the battlefield of ideas and
beliefs can have a decisive impact on the security and way of life
Americans enjoy. This lack of awareness is ideal for Beijing, Moscow,
and Tehran — predators like nothing better than hunting slumbering prey.
Americans may not realize they are already
in an information war because adversaries attempt to conceal their
activities. To make matters worse, Americans often think of
international conflict consciously or subconsciously in the context of
kinetic war — soldiers, ships, and aircraft battling one another on
land, at sea, or in the air. So, when there is no overt conflict,
Americans can be lulled into a false sense of security.
This propensity works to the advantage of
China, Russia, and Iran, which view conflict with the United States more
like a dial than a two-way switch.https://www.fdd.org/analysis/monographs/2024/06/28/cognitive-combat/#easy-footnote-bottom-1-236224
These adversaries turn the dial’s intensity up or down as needed, but
hostile intentions toward the United States and attacks in the
information domain remain constant regardless of whether a ‘shooting
war’ is underway.
So, what exactly does this information warfare look like?