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CHAPTER FIFTEEN: CONCLUSIONS
Terminology, Unintended Consequences, and Other Issues
It is the author’s hope that this work has induced some creative
thinking on the part of the reader concerning current US IO theory and practice
in order to make recommendations to align it with the current environment. It is
not the goal of the author to engage in further polemics on IO or the term
Information Age. It appears certain that militaries around the world will
continue to use the IO paradigm and societies the Information Age paradigm.
But hopefully this work’s examination of our environment has pointed out
other ways to view our evolving world.
The first conclusion of this work is that current US military
information operations terminology and doctrine are inadequate to confront the
cyberbattlefields and cyber-related theories that have emerged over the past ten
years. US IO doctrine writers would benefit by studying cyber-related concepts
more closely and by adding more cyber-related concepts to their doctrinal base.
This would also remedy the divide in terminology between civilian and military
theorists. Such studies and additions would provide a more comprehensive
analysis of contemporary scenarios and may better prepare the military for
conflict management issues.
At the start of the 1990s or earlier, the world enjoyed a surge in the
ability to obtain and share information. Caught up in the excitement of the
moment, analysts began to talk about the advantages of the Information Age.
But as noted in Chapter One, many Internet definitions of “Information Age”
describe it as the use of computers. Computers and networks form the basic
infrastructure of current society. They are the work horses that provide access
to the information which we use and crave. More appropriately, then, we live in
a Cyber Age and not in an Information Age.
Further, there has always been an “information threat” whether it be
perception management, deception, or pure manipulation of data. There hasn’t
always been a “cyber threat” which is yet another indicator of why IO is the
wrong term. A term like “cyber operation” would be a more appropriate term as
would the term “Cyber Roadmap.” Satellites, sensors, computers, networks,
and other devices may pass information, but these are cyber devices, not
information devices. The Cyber Age is what is new. We should be discussing
the GCP (Global Cyber Process) instead of the GIE (Global Information
Environment). A GPS “produces” information, but it is based on the GCP. The
vision of the Federal Communications Commission is to focus on digital
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