“In war, character and opinion make more than half of the reality.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

Political Warfare, along with Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) under the broader category of Information Warfare (INFOWAR), is an initially non-violent form of persuasion and is performed on the strategic level. Its popularity is growing amongst enemy forces in our increasingly communicative world, and its usage can cause democracies considerable damage.

And yet, certain democratic states, such as Israel, are hesitant to engage in such operations.

Unfortunately, in the current sociopolitical environment, the term “PSYOP” has become a pejorative term both inside and outside our military, associated with propaganda and “black ops”. This is evident in the senior military and defense officials’ avoidance of such terms when publically discussing activities aimed at influencing domestic, foreign, and enemy audiences. 

Military operations across the globe are becoming more joint and full-spectrum in a new trend towards net-centric warfare. The proper employment of PSYOPS can provide the government and its military bodies greater results across an entire continuum of operations and add greater full-spectrum potential to the smaller combat teams. 

With so much at stake, we cannot ignore the practical uses (and potential damages from the enemy side) of INFOWAR methods across in the context of defense and communications. PSYOPS should be the military’s initial force of choice: expeditionary, interagency-capable, joint interoperable, and an historically proven weapon in the battlefield’s complex information environment.