strategic influence

‘Deepfakes’ – Artificial intelligence-powered videos – can be weaponized for political & military

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Senator Marco Rubio and I discussed the dangers of “deepfakes” – artificial intelligence-powered fake videos that can impersonate real people. Bill Gertz broke the story in the Free Beacon. “Michael Waller, an information warfare expert, said deepfakes also could be used by U.S. intelligence agencies for offensive information warfare operations against hostile states or terrorist … Read more

Empowerment and leverage: Key elements of Trump’s National Security Strategy

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by J Michael Waller / InFocus / Winter 2018 With global conflicts stretching the United States toward the breaking point, many feared that the world’s only superpower in 2017 was headed over a cliff. Flailing policies in Afghanistan stole hard-fought American military gains and had made the Taliban enemy a player again. Things became even … Read more

Putting the strategy back in strategic communications

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Volume 3 of our Defence Strategic Communications scholarly journal is out, published by NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga, Latvia. This is an excellent, truly international journal containing a surprising range of original perspectives. I’m happy to be a founding member of the editorial board. Subjects for Volume 3 range from the eclectic … Read more

Making the world safe for prosperity: State Department needs overhaul to become business-friendly

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by J Michael Waller, PhD / Georgetown Research Summary. The State Department’s shift toward building “civil society” abroad has clashed with the mission to promote traditional US national interests. Occasionally it has harmed legitimate American business interests abroad. To illustrate the problem, this paper describes how international NGOs operated in a single country to target … Read more

American troops are in Niger partly because US ignored call from wise African general

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by J Michael Waller / The Daily Caller / October 27, 2017 “American troops are in Niger because the US didn’t listen to a wise African leader who wanted to stomp out regional jihadists before they became a real problem. “If the United States had accepted an offer of strategic partnership six years ago, it … Read more

Operation Ghost Stories: How the FBI tracked Russian spies who targeted Hillary Clinton

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by J Michael Waller / The Daily Caller / October 20, 2017 “New FBI information about corruption in a Clinton-approved uranium deal with Russia raises questions about Clinton’s actions after the FBI broke up a deep-cover Russian spy ring in 2010,” Dr Waller writes in a hard-hitting Daily Caller article that went viral through the … Read more

Foreign service undermines business while Tillerson promotes prosperity

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by J Michael Waller / The Daily Caller / September 12, 2017. International community organizers are targeting American companies worldwide for shutdown. Those companies can no longer presume the State Department will help. In some cases, American diplomats are actively allied with local anti-business movements. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s reforms can’t come quickly enough. … Read more

‘Weaponizing ridicule’: Breaking ground in Army’s Military Review journal

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The U.S. Army’s Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, asked Dr. Waller to expand on his pioneering work in 2006 to use ridicule as a weapon. Waller’s article, “Weaponizing Ridicule,” is published in USACAC’s bimonthly intellectual journal, Military Review, September-October 2017. It looks out of place in Military Review‘s table of contents, but that’s … Read more

New NATO report on Russian ‘robotrolling’ shows value of small allies

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A new report on Russian trolling against NATO shows the important contributions that small frontline allies are making to the alliance, Dr Waller tells Bill Gertz in the Washington Free Beacon. Gertz reports: “‘While we provide the real military might, our smaller frontline allies focus on Russian information operations and psychological ops that we often … Read more

Waller praises DIA for report citing Russian psychological strategy

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The Defense Intelligence Agency’s latest report on Russian military power is “a vital development in American military intelligence analysis,” Dr Waller told the Washington Free Beacon. “This is an important development, because the U.S. military has not adequately addressed the fact that Russia has a global psychological strategy to compensate for its relative military weakness,” … Read more