Information Warfare: From Doctrine to Permanent Conflict

In the final phase of the Cold War, the relevance of information technology for the military had gained momentum, resulting in the formulation of the concept and soon after that the doctrine of Information Warfare in NATO, Warsaw Pact, and Asian countries. In all pioneering countries, Information Warfare was meant to use any technological and appropriate non-technological means to disrupt the ability of an adversary to purposefully pursue its goals in times of crisis and war. The development of three dominant parties – the USA, Russia and China – is shown here in more detail. Information Warfare tactics employ means to influence public opinion and the media as well as to disrupt computer systems, which has been executed continuously since the end of World War II. Today, we see how these concepts of Information Warfare have evolved into an element of everyday life. Information War is waged by organisations in the fluid continuum between intelligence agencies and military intelligence units, resulting in Hybrid Warfare as a term for entwined information and conventional warfare operations.