Skip to section navigation
Skip to page content

RAND > Topics >

Information Operations

Featured

Information operations and warfare, also known as influence operations, includes the collection of tactical information about an adversary as well as the dissemination of propaganda in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. RAND research has enabled military leaders and policymakers to develop strategies and policy frameworks to address the challenges of these military operations.

Report

'Cloud' System Could Help Navy Analysts Consume Expanding Ocean of Data

May 5, 2014

The Navy has a growing demand for intelligence to help Navy vessels avoid collisions, pinpoint targets, and perform other vital tasks. But the amount of data it may collect in the future is more than it can process today. “Cloud” strategies offer promising options.

Explore Information Operations

Commentary

Why 'Big Data' Can't Find the Missing Malaysian Plane

The failure to find the missing aircraft demonstrates anew the serious gaps in data coordination and challenges public assumptions about the thoroughness and simplicity of searching the world's data for answers.

May 1, 2014
Report

Redefining Information Warfare Boundaries for an Army in a Wireless World

The U.S. Army is studying ways to apply its cyber power and is reconsidering doctrinally defined areas related to cyberspace operations. Clarifying the overlap between network and information operations and other areas could inform Army doctrine.

Jan 16, 2013
Periodical

Periodical

U.S. Military Has Struggled to Retain Afghan Popular Support Since 2006

Even when the U.S. military took all the right steps, its credibility was undercut by concern among Afghans in contested areas that their own government would be unable to protect them from a vengeful Taliban once U.S. and NATO forces left.

May 11, 2012
News Release

News Release

U.S. Military's Efforts to Influence Afghan Population Have Grown Less Effective Over Time

The efforts of U.S. military information operations and psychological operations in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2010 grew less successful over time, as disenchantment with foreign occupation grew.

Apr 30, 2012
Report

U.S. Military's Efforts to Influence Afghan Population Have Grown Less Effective Over Time

The efforts of U.S. military information operations and psychological operations in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2010 grew less successful over time. The most notable shortcoming was the inability to counter the Taliban propaganda campaign against U.S. and coalition forces on the theme of civilian casualties.

Apr 30, 2012
Research Brief

Research Brief

Assessing Military Information Operations in Afghanistan, 2001-2010

This research brief offers an overview of the effectiveness of U.S. psychological operations in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2010, with particular attention to how well messages and themes were tailored to target audiences.

Apr 30, 2012
Research Brief

Addressing Commanders' Needs for Information on "Soft" Factors

A framework for thinking about commanders' critical information needs in countersurgency operations, offering practical ways for commanders to integrate influence activities into combined arms planning and assessment.

Dec 5, 2011
Report

Report

Victory Has a Thousand Fathers: Sources of Success in Counterinsurgency

Approaches to counterinsurgency from 30 recent resolved campaigns show that good counterinsurgency practices tend to "run in packs" and that historically, the balance of selected good and ineffective practices perfectly predicts the outcome of a conflict.

Jun 18, 2010
Report

Report

Victory Has a Thousand Fathers: Detailed Counterinsurgency Case Studies

Narratives on the 30 most recent resolved insurgencies, covering the period 1978 to 2008, and data on 76 factors hypothesized to be related to the success of counterinsurgency forces supplement analyses of historical and contemporary insurgencies.

Jun 18, 2010
Report

Report

Understanding Commanders' Information Needs for Influence Operations

In order to improve the effectiveness of combined arms planning and assessment operations, ground commanders need information pertaining to cultural and other "soft" factors and practical ways to integrate such information into influence operations activities.

Oct 28, 2009
Report

Report

Foundations of Effective Influence Operations: A Framework for Enhancing Army Capabilities

Aims to assist the U.S. Army in understanding

May 27, 2009
Report

Assessing Irregular Warfare: A Framework for Intelligence Analysis

An analytic framework and procedure for the intelligence analysis of irregular warfare (IW) environments that can serve as the basis for a subsequent IW intelligence analysis curriculum development effort.

Dec 11, 2008
Report

Report

Changes Needed in Way the United States Conducts Military Interventions

In preparing for possible future military interventions, the United States needs to shift substantial resources to the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, and military-civilian efforts must be integrated from top to bottom.

Sep 9, 2008
Report

Report

U.S. Military Prone to Operations Not in Accord with COIN Doctrine

Similarities between the Vietnam War and current Middle East operations reveal our military is apt to engage in traditional warfare despite the more nuanced tactics called for by counter-insurgency doctrine.

May 10, 2008
Research Brief

Research Brief

Conducting Counterinsurgency Operations: Lessons from Iraq (2003-2006)

This research brief examines U.S. counterinsurgency operations in Iraq from 2003 to 2006, including U.S. failure to protect Iraqi civilians; implications for future conflicts; and recommends steps to improve U.S. counterinsurgency capabilities.

Feb 27, 2008
Research Brief

Research Brief

Applying Madison Avenue Principles and Recent Operational Experience to Counterinsurgency and Stability Operations

This research brief summarizes a study that examined successes from the commercial marketing industry and how those lessons might assist U.S. and coalition forces to improve shaping campaigns during stability operations.

Jul 11, 2007
Research Brief

Research Brief

Counterinsurgency Operations May Require Modernization of the U.S. Airlift Fleet

This research brief looks at the role of airlift in U.S. counterinsurgency operations and the types of investment in new airlift assets that may be needed to meet the unique challenges of these operations.

May 22, 2007
Report

Report

Insights on Joint Urban Operations from Afghanistan and Iraq

Today's strategic environment implies an obligation to preserve innocent life when possible and to rebuild that which war destroys. Various tools can help better enable military and civilian alike to meet these objectives by more effectively conducting urban combat and restoration.

May 14, 2007
Report

Report

Al Qaeda and Its Affiliates: A Global Tribe Waging Segmental Warfare

Because Al Qaeda and its affiliates operate much like a global tribe, this paper describes the dynamics of classic tribes: what drives them, how they organize, and how they fight.

Jan 1, 2007
Report

Report

Ignoring the Innocent: Non-combatants in Urban Operations and in Military Models and Simulations

Identifies noncombatant behavior from recent military urban operations that has affected the U.S. military's ability to meet objectives during warfare, incorporating information on noncombatants into models and training scenarios, and recommending a layer

Aug 10, 2006

1
2
3
4
Next

RAND Topic:
Information Operations

Research conducted by