Cognitive Defense Against Massive Information Threats—Our Near Futures

Speakers: Peter W. Singer (Strategist & Senior Fellow, New America); Dr. Nicholas Wright (Intelligent Biology)

Date: 28 October 2021

Speaker Session Summary

SMA hosted a speaker session with Dr. Nicholas Wright (University College London, Georgetown University) and Dr. Peter W. Singer (New America), as part of its SMA General Speaker Series.

Disinformation is becoming a more prevalent security problem for both civilians and military personnel in the United States. Foreign actors target disinformation at individual service members and at their units to undermine leaders’ credibility and overall unit capability. Attackers expose service members to radical ideas and concepts from all ideologies. Another threat to US military personnel is their own misuse of social media, which causes military leaders to constantly deal with minor infractions. Dr. Singer commented that to increase the armed forces’ online security, its personnel must be better educated on the overall dangers of social media use and how adversaries are targeting them. This education should include the concepts of: a) media literacy, b) civics and citizenship, and c) cybersecurity and threat awareness.

For US adversaries, US military personnel present a large and vulnerable target with more than one million active service members and more than four million US citizens holding secret clearance levels. Dr. Wright commented that US personnel are vulnerable both at work and at home because of their social media use. Furthermore, advances in AI and technology make tools—such as deep fakes—more effective and persuasive. China is especially adept at using medical, financial, or meta data from apps to personalize its attacks on specific individuals. For the US, success in protecting its armed forces from online threats might appear as: a) supplying individuals with the proper technology defense and training, b) detecting who is targeted and why, and c) keeping regulations on technology use compatible with its democratic political system.

Speaker Session Recording

Briefing Materials

Dr. Nicholas Wright is affiliated with Georgetown University, University College London (UCL), Intelligent Biology and New America. He combines neuroscientific, behavioral and technological insights to understand decision-making in politics and international confrontations, in ways practically useful for policy. He regularly works with Governments. He has numerous academic and general publications, ranging from Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy to Neuron and the Proceedings of the Royal Society. He advises Europe’s largest tech company and has appeared on BBC and CNN. He received a medical degree from UCL, a BSc in Health Policy from Imperial College London, has Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (UK), has an MSc in Neuroscience and a PhD in Neuroscience both from UCL.

Dr. Peter Warren Singer is Strategist and Senior Fellow at New America. He has been named by the Smithsonian as one of the nation’s 100 leading innovators, by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential people in defense issues, by Foreign Policy to their Top 100 Global Thinkers List, and as an official “Mad Scientist” for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command. Peter is the author of multiple best-selling, award winning books. His non-fiction books include Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Children at War, Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century; Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know and most recently LikeWar, which explores how social media has changed war and politics. It was named an Amazon and Foreign Affairs book of the year and reviewed by Booklist as “LikeWar should be required reading for everyone living in a democracy and all who aspire to.” He is also the co-author of a novel type of novel, using the format of a technothriller to communicate nonfiction research. His first Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War which was both a top summer read and joined the professional reading list of every branch of the US military, leading to briefings everywhere from the White House to the Pentagon. His latest is Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution (May 2020). It has been described by the creator of Lost and Watchmen as “A visionary new form of storytelling—a rollercoaster ride of science fiction blended with science fact,” and by the head of Army Cyber Command as “I loved Burn-In so much that I’ve already read it twice.”