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INFORMATION WARFARE STRUCTURES FOR THE INDIAN ARMED FORCES: PART ICONCEPTS AND DOCTRINE
–
Lt Gen (Dr) R S Panwar
Introduction
The primary focus of this four-part series is to suggest IW structures for the Indian Armed Forceswhich are effective enough to match up to the challenges of 21
st
Century warfare. However, thisanalysis takes cognizance of the fact that there is deep resistance to change within the Indianmilitary hierarchy, despite the radical changes taking place in modern warfare concepts. Thus, tomove pragmatically from where we are to where we wish to be, this analysis adopts a
transformational
– as opposed to a (preferred)
revolutionary
–
approach towards achieving thedesired capabilities.IW being a nascent, complex, and dynamically evolving field of warfare, developing theconceptual and doctrinal basis for IW structures is an important first step. Equally importantly, inthis highly specialist field, identifying the right HR philosophy is at least as important as arrivingat optimum organisational structures and should, in fact, be a driving parameter while arriving atthe choice of structures.In the complex 21
st
Century battlespace, the role of IW is gaining prominence vis-à-vis the othertraditional forms of warfare, and there may be many scenarios where ends may be achievedsolely because of successful waging of IW. Nonetheless, organisational structures for any military
capability must necessarily be optimised for a “total conflict” scenario, as this is likely to be the
most demanding in terms of resources. Scenarios lower down on the escalatory ladder could thenbe catered for through suitable modifications to structures and processes. At the outset, it is also pertinent to highlight that there is no common understanding of the term
“Information Warfare”. Indeed, the interpretations of this and other related terms are so diverse
that, to carry out a coherent discussion on the subject, it is important to clarify the sense in whichIW terminologies and associated concepts are used.In this first part, an attempt is made to dwell upon and clarify the terminologies, concepts anddoctrines which are taken as the basis for proposing effective and viable IW structures for theIndian Armed Forces.
IW in 21
st
Century Battlespace
Until just about a decade ago, it would have been hard to find theorists and practitioners of IWwho claimed that IW was more than just a supporting means for conducting a kinetic multi-domainbattle in the physical domain. Today, the scenario is profoundly different, with the US havingestablished a Cyber Command in 2010
1,2
, China working with fervour to achieve dominance inthe information domain by building capabilities, notably its Strategic Support Force (SSF)
3
, andmost significantly, Russia demonstrating an increasing degree of maturity in the IW field, goingby the success of its information campaigns in Estonia, Georgia and Ukraine
4
. The powerful roleof social media in the de-stabilisation/ overthrow of established regimes during the Arab Spring
1
The Department of Defence Cyber Strategy
, Office of US Secretary of Defence, Washington, Apr 2015, pp.5, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
2
, US DoD Joint Publication 3-12 (R), 05 Feb 2013.
3
The Strategic Support Force: Update and Overview
, China Brief, Volume 16 Issue 9, The JamestownFoundation, Dec 2016, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
4
Michael Connell and Sarah Vogler,
Russia’s Approach to Cyber Warfare
, CNA’s Occasional Paper, March
2017, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
2(which, in Russian perception, was the result of
“subversive inform
ation technologies of the
West”), brought in a new dimension to war
-waging in and through cyberspace
5,6
.It is interesting to note that while it is the concept of
Information
Warfare which took root in the1990s and matured remarkably well after the turn of the century, it is
Cyberspace
which has foundits place alongside the traditional domains of land, sea, and air and then space, in a multi-dimensional battlespace
7,8
. This anomaly perhaps may be attributed to the unique characteristicsof cyberspace, allowing cyber-conflicts of various hues to occur during peace as well, without fearof escalation.The term
Cyber
itself eludes a precise definition, with one view stating that it has lost all meaning
9
.In its most generic interpretation,
Cyber
is in fact a synonym for
Information
. The most commonperception of the term
Cyberspace
would probably be as follows: information (at rest or in motion)and information systems, inter-connected as a global network (the Internet). But what if thenetwork in question is air-gapped, as was the Iranian nuclear facility intranet which was attackedusing the Stuxnet malware? Would an isolated network of combat radios transporting voice, dataand even video information in a tactical scenario be considered a segment of Cyberspace?There is an ongoing debate in the US DoD whether a sixth domain, namely the
Electro-Magnetic(or EM) Domain
, needs to be added to the existing five-dimensional battlespace construct
10
. Themotivation for such thinking is the increasing importance being accorded in the US to developingElectronic Warfare (EW) capabilities after decades of neglect, perhaps spurred by the rapidadvancements made in this field by formidable potential adversaries, particularly China. It needsto be kept in mind, however, that assigning
domain
status is not merely an academic exerciseand has implications such as designation of a separate jurisdiction together with suitableallocation of resources.If the EM Domain is indeed designated as the sixth warfighting domain, then the only major sub-component of IW without an associated domain would be Psychological Operations (PSYOP),making it a notable exception. Therefore, rather than designating a separate domain for each IWcapability, it is worth considering whether there exists a case for replacing
Cyberspace
with
Infospace
as a warfighting domain, covering the three primary IW components of cyber warfare,EW and psychological warfare, and evolving doctrine and structures accordingly.
IW as Command & Control Warfare (C2W): Targeting the OODA Loop
There are several conceptions of what IW is all about. Prominent amongst these is the view thatit is a potent means for conducting Command & Control Warfare (C2W). In line with this view, thefigure below depicts how various means of IW attack may be employed to disrupt the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) loop of the adversary
11
.
5
, Fellowship Monograph No 9, NATO Defence College, Nov 2016, pp.9, 36, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
6
Countering Russian IO in the Age of Social Media
, Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program,Council on Foreign Relations, New York, 21 Nov 2017, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
7
, US DoD Joint Publication 3-12 (R), 05 Feb 2013, pp. I-2, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
8
Cyberspace: The Fifth Dimension of Warfare
, Future Wars, 08 Jan 2018, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
9
The Word Cyber Now Means Everything
, 01 Dec2017, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
10
Spectrum (EW) Should be a Domain of Warfare: Rep. Bacon
, Breaking Defence, 29Nov 2017, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
11
Information Warfare: Principles and Operations
, Artech House, Inc., Norwood, 1998, p. 6,27, 51, 108-110, 173-74, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
3 An elaboration of this IW model can be found at
Information Warfare: Origins and Fundamentals
IW vis-à-
vis the DIKW Hierarchy and Coup D’oeil
The ability to quickly make sense of battlefield activity by a commander based on his experienceand intuition has been termed as
coup d’oeil
by Carl von Clausewitz in his seminal work
On War
12
.Further, while
Wisdom
may lead to the right decision, it is the
Will/ Determination
of thecommander which would ultimately result in
Action
. Information systems play a key role intransforming Data through Information to Knowledge, while it is the human element whichtranslates
Knowledge
into
Wisdom
and then
Action
.In the context of IW, cyber, EW and kinetic weapons may be used to attack
Information
within theadvers
ary’s Infospace. Psychological o
perations, on the other hand, target the
Will
of theadversary commander and his team.
Role of IW in Multi-Domain Warfare
As per some of the original work on IW carried out by US based theorists, the aim of carrying outIW is to achieve information superiority/ dominance. In a military context, such superiorityfacilitates operational concepts such as dominant manoeuvre, precision engagement, focussed
12
, Translated by Colonel J J Graham, Project Gutenburg Ebook,released Feb 2006, Accessed 22 Apr 2021.
