NATO STRATCOM COE

LTC Bernd Soelter

Branch Head Doctrine, Concepts & Experimentation

The role of StratCom in Hybrid Threat Scenarios

NATO StratCom COE aim and mission

WEAKNESS

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“Aim is to provide a tangible contribution to the improvement of the NATO StratCom capabilities”

Mission:• Assist in concept evolution through research and analysis • Enhance education and training• Improve interoperability and capabilities through multi-

disciplinary engagements• Validate concepts through testing

3NATO UNCLASSIFIED releasable to FIN and SWE

To improve NATO StratCom

Cooperating withUniversities & Think Tanks

ContractingExperts

Conducting SME WS & Seminars and conferences

& Own Expertise

NATO definition

The coordinated and appropriate use of NATO communications activities and capabilities – Public Diplomacy, Public Affairs (PA), Military Public Affairs, Information Operations (Info Ops) and Psychological Operations (PSYOPS), as appropriate – in support of the Alliance policies, operations and activities in order to advance NATO's aims.

NAC StratCom policy 29 Sept 2009

Information Environment

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is comprised of the information itself, the individuals, organizations and systems that

receive, process and convey the information, and the cognitive, virtual and physical space

in which this occurs.

You can't not communicate

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Everything you do

communicates!

NATO StratCom

• StratCom, in the context of the NATO military, is the integration of communication capabilities and information staff function [ ] with other military activities, in order to understand and shape the Information Environment (IE), in support of NATO aims and objectives.

MC 0628 NATO MILITARY POLICY ON STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS

Draft 4 (Interim)

May 2017

Using all instruments of national power to

defeat, overcome or coerce an adversary

without

resorting to war.

Hybrid Warfare

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DCDC 2016

• Action or series of actions which is intended to be deliberatly unclear ineither its source, motivation, intent or threat posed, but which aims to destabilise, discredit or otherwise weaken an opponent.

• Includes information warefare, cyber activity, counter intelligence, espionage, economic warefare exploitation of key-dependencies and thesponsorship of proxy-forces.

Element of secracy, deniability and uncertainty

Manipulation of society (and hence the subversion of the state) without the society being conscious of the manipulation.

Characteristics of Hybrid Warfare

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DCDC 2016

“Gerasimov Doctrine”

“In principle, operations of information warfare forcesare equivalent to

operations of gunfire means and forces. They may even prevail at a certain stage.

All these issues were practiced during Caucasus 2016 exercises.”

Gerasimov 14 Sep 2016

Published in VPK-news.ru 05th MAR 2013

Russian National Centre for Defence

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Strategic level Cmd HQHousing Reps from 49 governmental organizations:

- Diplomatic- Economic- Military- Nuclear- Industrial- Legal- Media- Security- Intell- Cyber

Old (?) KGB Long Term View

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Soviet long term view on influence activities, four phases:

Source: Yuri Bezmenov(AKA Tomas Schuman)

Russophobe or legitimately concerned

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We, the Heads of State and Government of the North Atlantic Alliance, stand united in our resolve to

maintain and further develop our individual and collective capacity to resist any form of armed attack. In this context, we are today making a commitment to

continue to enhance our resilience against the full spectrum of threats, including hybrid threats, from

any direction.

WARSAW SUMMIT

• Understand!!

What can StratCom do?

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Understand the Narrative

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Top Ten Techniques

• Moral superiority

• Experts (useful idiots)

• Use of authority

• Important placement/length of report/repitition

• Selective reporting (leaves out pieces)

• Testimony / the ‘’common’’ man

• Simplification & Falsification

• Statistics

• Humor

• Trolling

Trolling

• Savushkina 55, St Peterburg

1. Conspiracy troll, blame USA

2. Aggressive troll

3. Wikipedia troll

4. Attachment troll

5. Bikini troll

6. Robotic troll

Main conclusions: -Russian trolling is identifiable - around 3% trolled web comments;-Focus on political news (Ukraine, EU, USA)

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TV

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Fake News

«In reality German chancellor simply

acknowledged that the issue of Crimea was not

part of the Minsk Agreement

NATO UNCLASSIFIED

Fake News

«Testimonies» & «Experts»

Use of actresses

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Russian TV actress Halina Pyshniakpreviously played the witness of the «crucified boy» and the victim of another Volnovahashooting. In Donetsk she was acting as a saleswoman from the local store.

«Nazi-Narrative»

«Nazi-Narrative»

«Humour»

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Reflexive control

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Ambiguity of Messaging

Words and Deeds

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Energy Security

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Passportisation

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“Polite people” campaign

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Russia's first monument honouring the "polite people" behind 2014 armed annexation of Crimea has been erected in the far eastern city of Belogorsk 06 May 2015

Humanitarian Aid

"The Kremlin's Trojan horses"

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Russia's policy of undermining Europe and the whole West via challenging liberal democracy and promoting nationalist, populist and extremist political movements in the EU as a whole and in its key nations in particular - France, Germany and The UK.

Published NAC NOV 16

BY ALINA POLYAKOVA, MARLENE LARUELLE, STEFAN MEISTER, AND NEIL BARNETT

What can StratCom do?

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Act!

Effective strategic communications to dispel false information, propaganda, lies and myths is also an essential part of coping with hybrid attacks that seek to confuse public opinion, aggravate social tensions and undermine trust in governments.

NATO Review / Resilience: a core element of collective defence

Enhanced Forward Presence

Exploiting opportunities

Fakenews

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German soldiers accused to have raped an underage girl in Jonava, Lithuania mid-February. The story was planted through an e-mail to the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament.

Later, a public blog post was created.

The blog suggested that the “news” about the rape had been deliberately suppressed as a “conspiracy against the people,” and printed screenshots from media that had published the fake story.

The blog “auraspress.wordpress.com” seems to have been created just for this post. As of March 31, there were no other posts on the blog.

SoMe-Mobbing / Trolling

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NATO in Lithuania – new jobs for inhabitants

NATO will help Lithuania

NATO BG in the BalticsFollowing the traces of Wehrmacht

Lithuania be happy

Nazi NATO is coming to save you from Russia

Memes

How to communicate?

• Consistent and Coherent

• Accurate and Timely

• Credible

• Narrative Led

• Leadership Driven

• Fully Integrated

• Empowering

• Engagement

The NAC and Secretary General are in charge of the overall direction of communications and public diplomacy programmes for both the civilian and military sides of the Alliance.

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Narrative led operations

Mil Actions, Engagements, Information activities

Communication & Information activities

Communication & Diplomatic activities

Coherent communication through:

Engagements, Communication &Information activities

NATO StratCom

• Public Diplomacy: NATO civilian communications and outreach efforts, responsible for promoting awareness of and building understanding and support for NATO's policies, operations and activities, in complement to the national efforts of Allies.

• Public Affairs: NATO civilian engagement through the media to inform the public of NATO policies, operations and activities in a timely, accurate, responsive, and proactive manner.

Communication & Diplomatic activities

• Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy: responsible for guiding the Alliance’s public diplomacy strategies, and overseeing their implementation in member nations and partner countries.

• NATO Spokesperson: providing strategic advice to the NATO Secretary General, the North Atlantic Council, commands and NATO offices on press, media and social media.

StratCom, InfoOps & Communication capabilities deliniation

IACB

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Diplomaticactivities

Economic activities

Mediaactivities

Social, cultureactivities

Covert &SOF

Conventional forces

NATO StratCom capabilities

Situational awareness – estimate of effects on perceptions

Shape the environment-Inform & influence

Coordinate Info Activities with agencies/partners

Integrate communication capabilities with other military

activities

diplomatic activities military activities

EU, OSCE, GO, NGOPD, PA Press & Media, PA, PSYOPS

Information ActivitiesInfo Ops

‘Words and Deeds’

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Government

President

Parlament

STATE SECURITY AGENCIES

INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES

Recognize, Show and explain

Do you agree that Russian Federation conducting intentionally informational activities in order to influence the

mind of Lithuanian population?

Increased awareness in Population

Taip – YES

Ne – NO

NN – No opinion

Challenges

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Selective Perception

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Reciprocity of Perspectives

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Plato, The Allegory of the Cave

Finding the Balance

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Freedom of

Speech

Censor-ship

Infor-mation

Indoctri-nation

Outreach

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