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Influencing Tomorrow: A Study of Emerging Influence Techniques and Their Relevance to United States Information Operations

by Major John M. Boehnert

1 cards · Military report

Masters thesis — U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 2015. Full text: https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA623046

Card #c1407SynthesisMilitary report

Influencing Tomorrow: A Study of Emerging Influence Techniques and Their Relevance to United States Information Operations

Comparative case studies of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Russia (2001–2015) identify which influence techniques actually resonate with message-saturated audiences: Al Qaeda preserved a holistic identity while franchising globally; ISIS rapidly claimed market share with a compelling narrative; Russia integrated information operations with offensive military operations among a culturally similar populace — and these are the techniques with the greatest future potential for U.S. DoD information operations.

— In our words · Source: Influencing Tomorrow: A Study of Emerging Influence Techniques and Their Relevance to United States Information Operations (Major John M. Boehnert)

[Use when]

Study the franchise, not just the ideology — the influence techniques that scale (Al Qaeda's franchising, ISIS's narrative market-share grab) are the ones that transfer.

[Why it matters]

A 2015 U.S. staff-college study of exactly the influence-playbook trio (jihadist networks, ISIS, Russia) that still defines the information-warfare problem — a compact comparative frame for reading today's influence operations.

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