'Information Operations' Defined

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"As Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes begins her monumental campaign to improve the world's opinion of the United States, not to worry, military information warriors are poised to jump in as soon as the FEMA of public diplomacy falters," William Arkin writes for his "Early Warnings" blog. "Certainly one of the fastest growing military sectors is that of information operations (IO)." As it turns out, the Pentagon seems to have no shortage of agencies working on IO. To make sure everyone is on the same page, the Defense Department recently offered a new definition of IO: "The integrated employment of the specified core capabilities of Electronic Warfare [EW], Computer Network Operations (CNO), PSYOP [psychological operations], Military Deception [MILDEC], and Operations Security [OPSEC], in concert with specified supporting and related capabilities, to influence, disrupt, corrupt, or usurp adversarial human and automated decisionmaking, while protecting our own."