Cognitive Warfare: Contribution of the French Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Defence

Curator note

If we take the neuroscientist James Giordano’s quote literally, then the cognitive field must be one of our priorities, in terms of research but also for the conduct of our operations. The intensification of rivalries between powers translates, along a continuum of “contestation – competition – confrontation,” into actions in the “grey zones” aimed at intimidating or coercing. We must not wait for the confrontation phase to act, particularly in the field of perceptions, especially since lethal and kinetic action is not always the most appropriate response.
In this perspective, EMA must take ownership of this subject and accompany the reflections underway at NATO, in order to feed the debate, notably upstream of the work on the future strategic concept. It must also integrate it into the European agenda in order to raise awareness among European nations and encourage
them to invest in a field that will become essential for coalition work and our interoperability. The work carried out by ENSC in this field and the organization of this scientific and strategic workshop identified the stakes and the threats linked to the cognitive domain and galvanized our thinking, and today contributes actively to our reflection. Beyond scientific and biotechnological developments, the exchanges have shown that the cognitive field covers a vast spectrum, including human sciences such as psychology and sociology. Actions of influence, soft and smart power, actions of disinformation and destabilization are becoming essential components of the strategies of conquest and domination between countries, organizations and non-state actors in international relations: an intentional blurring of reference points and borders, indifferent to reality, tends to take hold.
Influencing and manipulating public opinion are full-fledged modes of action for powers aiming to destabilize our democracies. The current destabilization context is one of “post truth,” of questioning knowledge, institutions and governments, of knowledge and of the scientific approach, where the fact counts
for less than the emotion and the lies of those who utter them. These powers (state or not) rely on technology that provides them with powerful levers of dissemination and intrusion that can target each individual, while giving them the ability to influence and manipulate public opinion on a large scale without their knowledge.
“Fake news,” rumors, mystification, and conspiracy are very concrete examples, whose diffusion is multiplied by social networks. The reference to Clausewitz’s triangle of “people, politics, military” allows us to identify the place of the military in a theme that at first glance seems to concern only the civilian domain. The field of information manipulation from a military perspective is in fact nothing new in itself. The weapon of information is an old legacy of the Cold War (one could go back to the world conflicts of the beginning of the 20th century) and armed forces.