The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

Can archetypes be modeled, analyzed, and applied in support of national security? During this episode, Joseph Lee discusses Carl Jung, collective consciousness, and archetypes. Our wide ranging discussion covers a comparison between Jung and Freud, Joseph Campbell's work on myth and the hero's journey, the Marvel universe as a modern day collection of stories about gods, the power of rituals, and archetype emergence.

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #77 Paul Lopata on Quantum
• The Jungian Life Podcast
• Episode 179: The Archetype of War
• Joseph R. Lee's Webpage
• DreamSchool
• The Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts
• Apotheosis of Washington Mural
• Century of the Self
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Guest Bio:

Joseph R. Lee is a Jungian Analyst in private practice in Southern VA. He is co-host and co-creator of This Jungian Life podcast, as well as the online learning program DreamSchool, where people learn how to interpret their own dreams. He is president emeritus of The Philadelphia Association of Jungian Analysts that provides analytic training.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Brian Russell returns to the Cognitive Crucible to discuss his latest article: The Tie that Binds – Cyberspace as the Core of All Domain Maneuver Warfare.

Research Question: Brian Russell asks the following: how to assess the effectiveness and risk of employing AI generated cyber weapons: AI on the AI so to speak. There are two resources:

1. Phoenix Cast Cyber Fires Episode
2. Dr. Christopher Whyte's piece in the latest Cyber Defense Review titled Beyond "Bigger, Faster, Better:" Assessing Thinking About Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Conflict.

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #13 Brian Russell on Behind Enemy Lines
  • #132 Brian Russell on OIE Truths
• The Tie that Binds – Cyberspace as the Core of All Domain Maneuver Warfare by Brian Russell
• Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture (JCWA)
• Expeditionary Cyberspace Operations, Paul Schuh, Cyber Defense Review
• Beyond "Bigger, Faster, Better:" Assessing Thinking About Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Conflict by Dr. Christopher Whyte
• Cyber Fires, Phoenix Cast
• PW Singer and Emerson T Brooking, Foreign Affairs) Gaza and the Future of Information Warfare
• Wiring the Winning Organization: Liberating Our Collective Greatness through Slowification, Simplification, and Amplification by Gene Kim and Steven J. Spear
• Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: Brian Russell is the founder of Information Advantage and a Key Terrain Cyber Senior Fellow. He is a retired Marine Corps artillery officer, with previous assignments as the commanding officer of II Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group (II MIG) and 1st ANGLICO. His combat deployments include serving as the Military Transition Team Leader in Habbaniyah, Iraq, the executive officer of Brigade Headquarters Group in Helmand Province, Afghanistan and Plans Director in Bagram, Afghanistan. Some of his notable staff assignments include: Operations Directorate at Marine Corps Special Operations Command, Operations Directorate at United States Cyber Command, and U.S. Plans Directorate at Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command. He recently joined Peraton as a Cyber and Information Warfare subject matter expert.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, John Davis recaps Four Operational Rules of the Road, which are intended to prevent miscalculation and unintended escalation. John synthesized these Rules based upon many years experience in military uniform and after many conversations with global leaders and academics. Briefly, they are: transparency, SOPs for oversight, sharing threat intelligence, and banning third party actors. We also revisit some of the topics from John's first Cognitive Crucible appearance.

Research Question: John Davis asserts that there's been a lot of recent reporting about China's onslaught of disinformation oriented toward Taiwan and in the run up to the January elections. Reporting indicates that there may be important lessons in how Taiwan has handled this onslaught, including public education efforts with support from international media literacy partnerships as well as more active countermeasures by mature communities of fact-checkers, government investments and law enforcement investigations. He believes it would be a great research project to examine the techniques and capabilities employed by Taiwan and analyze the effectiveness, or lack thereof, to assist the U.S. in preparation for the 2024 presidential elections as well as our overall national effort to combat the information warfare efforts aimed at the country by Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and all of their surrogates.

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #24 John Davis on Modern Warfare, Teamwork, and Commercial Cognitive Security
  • #166 John Agnello on Information Advantage
• Army Doctrinal Publication 3-13 INFORMATION, Nov 2023
• Cybersecurity First Principles: A Reboot of Strategy and Tactics by Rick Howard

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: Retired U.S. Army Major General John Davis is the Vice President, Public Sector for Palo Alto Networks, where he is responsible for expanding cybersecurity initiatives and global policy for the international public sector and assisting governments around the world to prevent successful cyber breaches. Prior to joining Palo Alto Networks, John served as the Senior Military Advisor for Cyber to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and also served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy. Prior to this assignment, he served in multiple leadership positions in special operations, cyber, and information operations. John earned a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, Master of Military Art and Science from U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and Bachelor of Science from U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Tom Kent returns to the Cognitive Crucible to discuss his latest book: How Russia Loses: Hubris and Miscalculation in Putin's Kremlin. Vladimir Putin's efforts to build influence abroad have succeeded in many places, leading some to see him as a master tactician whose skills are practically unbeatable. "How Russia Loses" takes a more skeptical approach, arguing that Russian influence operations have also been plagued by overconfidence and misjudgments, often repeating themselves in case after case. Thomas Kent's book looks at six case studies where Russian fortunes suffered temporary or long-term reversals, and the reasons for those setbacks – from Russia's own weaknesses to nimble responses by pro-democracy actors. The book spans Russian operations in Ukraine, Ecuador, South Africa and North Macedonia, as well as Moscow's efforts to promote the Nordstream 2 pipeline and its Sputnik COVID vaccine. Kent offers an extensive analysis of common threads that have weakened Russian influence operations, and how the West can use this knowledge to respond more effectively to future efforts by Moscow.

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #10 Tom Kent on Striking Back
  • #105 Tom Kent on Persuasion in the Developing World
  • #25 Alan Kelly on Mapping the Strategies of IO Actors
  • #151 Daniel Runde on Chinese Soft Power
• [Free Download] How Russia Loses: Hubris and Miscalculation in Putin's Kremlin by Tom Kent
• Taxonomy of Influence Strategies

Link to full show notes and resources

https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-177

Guest Bio:

Thomas Kent teaches and consults on Russian affairs, journalism, and the problems of propaganda and disinformation. President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty until 2018, he now teaches at Columbia University and consults for governments, NGOs, and news organizations. He is a senior fellow of The Jamestown Foundation and an associate fellow of Slovakia's GLOBSEC. Previously, he was Moscow bureau chief for The Associated Press, head of AP's international news coverage, and editor for standards and ethics. His first book, Striking Back: Overt and Covert Options to Combat Russian Disinformation, was published by Jamestown in 2020.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Bob Jones returns to the Cognitive Crucible to discuss strategic influence and how the United States is at a crossroads. Additionally, we revisit Bob's previous Cognitive Crucible appearance and discuss the importance of governance and taking other people's perspectives.

Research Question: Bob Jones suggests as interested student examine:

• Is political conflict internal to a single system inherently different than political conflict between two or more systems; and if so, how, why and so what?
• How is the modern Chinese effort to expand their sovereignty to match their expanded power distinct from, or similar to, the US efforts to do the same in the 1890 to 1914 timeframe?
• If one expands the definition of unconventional warfare (UW) to the leveraging of foreign political grievances to advance or secure one's interests, do al Qaeda and ISIS conduct UW?
• Does the presence of absence of violence lend strategic insight to the nature of a political competition/conflict?
• If one accepts that AQ and ISIS wage UW campaigns, how does one best disrupt, defeat, or render irrelevant their efforts?
• Is counterinsurgency best thought of as a purely domestic, civilian-led activity; where, as in all domestic emergencies, the military is always in support, last in and first out?
• It has been offered that internal, revolutionary insurgency differs from democracy only in legality; and that causation is rooted in how some distinct demographic feels about the governance affecting their lives. How does this perspective affect counterinsurgency operations?

Resources:

• • Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
    • #56 Bob Jones on Governance
  • Emerging Strategic & Geopolitical Challenges: Operational Implications for US Combatant Commands (Volume III)
  • U.S. Command Perspectives on Campaigning in Support of Integrated Deterrence (Volume IV)
  • Casebooks on insurgency
  • On Guerrilla Warfare by Mao Tse-tung
  • Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice by David Galula
  • Fighting Talk: Forty Maxims on War, Peace, and Strategy by Colin Gray
  • The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick
  • The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented The Constitution by David O. Stewart
  • Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
  • How to Think Like Einstein: Simple Ways to Break the Rules and Discover Your Hidden Genius by Scott Thorpe
  • The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It by Joshua Cooper Ramo
  • Guns, Germs, and Steele: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond Ph.D.
  • The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Link to full show notes and resources

https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-176

Guest Bio:

Mr. Robert Jones is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel; a former Deputy District Attorney; a Fellow with the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), and the Senior Strategist at U.S. Special Operations Command. Currently serving as a member of the SOCOM J5 Donovan Group, Mr. Jones is responsible for leading innovative thinking on the strategic environment and understanding how it impacts factors critical to national security, such as competition, the character of conflict, deterrence and societal stability.

Mr. Robert Jones is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel; a former Deputy District Attorney; and the Senior Strategist at U.S. Special Operations Command. Currently serving as a member of the SOCOM J5 Donovan Group, Mr. Jones is responsible for leading innovative thinking on the strategic environment and understanding how it impacts factors critical to national security, such as competition, the character of conflict, deterrence and societal stability.

Mr. Jones's principle focus is on the fundamental human aspects of political conflict. In a rapidly evolving strategic environment, good strategy is rooted in understanding what remains constant and why; while good tactics demands a realistic appreciation for what is different or changed. Successful campaigning demands a fusion of the two. He enjoys "wire brushing" concepts by routinely standing in front of tough audiences. None of these is tougher than those he faces in his role as a fixture in the Joint Special Operations University's Enlisted Academy, applying a commonsense perspective to bring our most experienced Special Operators strategic insights they can actually use. This is also the third consecutive year that Mr. Jones has addressed the Air War College class during the Operational Design phase of their curriculum, sharing practical insights gleaned from his experiences.

He has been a featured speaker at Universities as storied as Oxford, St Andrews, Stanford and Harvard; and has led professional development events with operational units across the SOCOM enterprise. Mr. Jones is also a Fellow with the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS).

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Marine Corps Maj Ryan Ratcliffe discusses his recent article entitled: Cognitive Warfare: Maneuvering in the Human Dimension. Our discussion covers national security challenges at the intersection of technology and cognition, information maneuver, and emerging offensive/defensive needs.

Resources:

• • Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
    • #38 Lori Reynolds on Operations in the Information Environment
    • #95 LtGen Matthew Glavy on MCDP 8 Information
    • #85 Josh Kerbel on Complexity and Anticipatory Intelligence
    • #47 Yaneer Bar-Yam on Complex Systems and the War on Ideals
    • #72 Noah Komnick on Cybernetics and the Age of Complexity
    • #121 Koichiro Takagi on East Asia Security
    • #37 Bill Vivian on MCDP 1-4 Competing
  • Cognitive Warfare: Maneuvering in the Human Dimension by Majors Andrew MacDonald and Ryan Ratcliffe, U.S. Marine Corps
  • New York Times Article: China Sows Disinformation About Hawaii Fires Using New Techniques
  • Marine Corps MCDP 1-4 Competing
  • Books mentioned:
    • The Age of AI: And Our Human Future by Kissinger, Schmidt, and Huttenlocher
    • Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
    • On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gaddis
    • Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: Major Ratcliffe is an EA-6B electronic warfare officer and joint terminal attack controller assigned to the office of the chief of naval operations staff. Previously, he served in the office of the Deputy Commandant for Information, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. He holds a master of international public policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, US Air Force Major Kara Masick discusses her thought-provoking article: 12 (Mis)Steps from Sober Assessments: Confessions of a Failed OIE Assessor. Our discussion covers her OIE assessment recovery journey. Like an alcoholic seeking sobriety by first admitting they have a problem and acknowledging where they've gone wrong, this essay is 12 confessions of her OIE assessment failures. During the discussion, she presents a new assessment metric that she calls: Most Likely Cause (MLC). Assessors should learn to think like an IT Helpdesk professional; like detectives discovering clues to find the most likely culprit, we can weigh relative likelihoods that our OIE had the effect compared to other potential causes.

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #83 Joseph Lee on Jung and Archetypes
  • #130 Teasel Muir-Harmony on Spaceflight, Foreign Policy, and Soft Power
  • #25 Alan Kelly on Mapping the Strategies of IO Actors
• IPA Blog Article: 12 (Mis)Steps from Sober Assessments: Confessions of a Failed OIE Assessor by Kara Masick
• The Iron Law Of Evaluation And Other Metallic Rules by Peter H. Rossi
• Evaluation: A Systematic Approach by Peter H. Rossi, Mark W. Lipsey, Gary T. Henry
• Foundations of Program Evaluation: Theories of Practice By Shadish, Cook, Levitan
• Scriven, M. (1974). Maximizing the power of causal investigations: The modus operandi method. In Evaluation in education (pp. 68–84). McCutchan Publishing
• Scriven, M. (2005). The Logic and Methodology of Checklists.
• McGuire's Classic Input–Output Framework for Constructing Persuasive Messages. In Public Communication Campaigns (Fourth Edition, pp. 133–145). SAGE Publications, Inc.
• Decoding Crimea. Pinpointing the Influence Strategies of Modern Information Warfare by Alan Kelly and Christopher Paul

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio:

Kara Masick is an Air Force 14F (Information Operations officer) with a passion for MISO/PSYOP who's worked mostly within Intel and Cyber organizations. She was the first 14F officially assigned to the J39 of the Information Warfare Numbered Air Force (16AF). She was sponsored by USSOCOM to study Psychology and is doing that within the Measurement Research methodology Evaluation and Statistics Lab at George Mason University (GMU) with the goal of improving her MISO operations and assessments contributions. Her dissertation research on persuasion uses Large Language Models to analyze text. Previously, she studied theology at the University of Oxford (certificate), Behavioral Science (BS) with Religious Studies and Arabic minors at the Air Force Academy, and Sociology (MA) at GMU.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Dr. John Gentry discusses long-term influence strategies employed by the former Soviet Union, which remain ongoing today. The conversation covers a wide range of related topics including reflexive control, useful idiots, institutions, diaspora, plus more.

Research Question: John Gentry suggests that an interested student examine vulnerabilities that attackers identify, what causes them, and how to ameliorate them. For starters, he describes three general categories: ideology, gullibility, and interests (for example: financial).

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #76 Yuval Levin on the Constitution & Institutions
• Influence Operations of China, Russia, and the Soviet Union: A Comparison – Nipp
• John A. Gentry, Information Operations against the United States: Defensive Actions are Needed, No. 556, June 12, 2023 – Nipp
• Russia and China expected to renew their espionage vigour by Dries Putter and Sascha-Dominik Bachmann
• Russia and China Expected to Renew their Espionage Vigour
• The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World by John Davies, Alexander Kent, and James Risen
• Neutering the CIA: Why US Intelligence versus Trump Has Long-Term Consequences by John Gentry

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio:

Dr. John A. Gentry is an adjunct professor with the School of Defense and Strategic Studies, Missouri State University. He writes regularly on intelligence topics and security issues more generally. Dr. Gentry has an economics background and received a Ph.D. in political science from the George Washington University. His most recently published book is Neutering the CIA: Why US Intelligence versus Trump Has Long-Term Consequences.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Steve Hunnewell of Premise Data discusses geopolitical risk in Asia and the grey zone. Our conversation covers the rise of China and its implications for the global order, the growing strategic competition between China and the United States in Asia, the concept of hybrid warfare and how China and other countries use it, and the need for better integration of commercial solutions and implications for operations in the information environment.

Research Question: Steve Hunnewell suggests an interested student examine the following:

• assess the "infinite game" and assess our positions of advantage?
• How do we better integrate commercial solutions, public-private partnerships, etc to create an in-depth approach to creating resiliency?

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #150 Jill Goldenziel on China and the Philippines
  • #166 John Agnello on Information Advantage
• Persuade or Perish by Wallace Carroll
• Spies and Lies: How China's Greatest Covert Operations Fooled the World by Alex Joske

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio:

Before joining Premise Data, Steve Hunnewell was the Director of the Information Office for the United States Indo-Pacific Command. In this unique role, he served as the inaugural senior executive for strategic communications guidance and strategy, which focused on using data to improve the command's ability to engage within the information domain.

Hunnewell's previous public service supported a wide range of special operations, diplomatic, and strategic communications issues throughout the U.S. government, including serving as a Strategic Advisor for Information Operations on the NATO ISAF Counterinsurgency Advisory & Assistance Team (CAAT), U.S. DoD liaison for Afghan Reconciliation & Reintegration to the U.K. Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) & the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA); with additional roles and assignments in Ukraine, the Levant, Latin America, and Asia.

Hunnewell also has extensive experience in the private sector. He has held leadership positions at technology firms such as Novetta and Two Six Technologies. In these roles, he has worked on various issues, including leading product innovation and developing solutions that identify events, rhetoric, and behavior patterns, thus yielding actionable insights into relationships between messengers, messages, and audiences.

Steve's graduate studies and degrees include an MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College and international affairs at The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Molly Dwyer, Vice President of Analysis at Predata, discusses how she and her colleagues unlock the other side of the Internet. Predata is the only web-based platform that quantifies shifts in online attention–how audiences research and consume information–to provide a more complete picture of the geopolitical landscape. The Predata platform enables government and commercial organizations to incorporate insights from an often overlooked dataset into their strategy and operations.

Research Question: Molly suggests an interested student investigate ways to identify early signals or breadcrumbs on the Internet which indicate a shift in messaging before it happens?

Resources:

• Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
  • #129 Eliot Jardines on Open Source Intelligence
• The 90-9-1 Rule for Participation Inequality in Social Media and Online Communities by Jakob Nielsen
• PreData
• FiscalNote
• Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum

Link to full show notes and resources

Guest Bio: Molly is Vice President of Analysis at Predata, part of FiscalNote, an open-source intelligence company based in Washington D.C. Predata's unique web-based analytics platform quantifies how online audiences consume and research information. The Predata platform enables users to analyze the "other side of the internet" beyond social media—understanding how web traffic patterns and online research behaviors help reveal the true reach of messaging, identifying the impact of disinformation, and uncovering early indicators of offline activity. In her seven-year career at Predata, Molly has played a key role in shaping the company's data research, product development, intelligence analysis, and relationships with customers from the public and private sectors. As a Russia/Eurasia subject matter expert, she has spent several years living and traveling across the region—including a Department of State posting at the U.S. Consulate in Yekaterinburg, Russia and a year of immersive language study as a National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) scholarship recipient. She is a graduate of Princeton University.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.