Communications during war is vital to military operations, and information, or lack of it, can make or break a battle.
Information Warfare (IW), also known as cyberwar, cyber attack, and cyberterrorism, is a form of modern warfare in which information and media become instruments of war.
As of 13 Jan 06 JP 3-13, the Joint Doctrine for Information Operations removed the term information warfare and replaced it with the more civilized concept of Information Operations (IO).
Likewise, the term has been removed from JP 1-02, the Deparment of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms
The U.S. Air Force retains the idea of Information Warfare in AFDD 2-5, Information Operations, with this definition:
Information warfare is information operations conducted to defend one’s own information and information systems or attacking and affecting an adversary’s in-formation and information systems.
Duane McCollum, FGI Blogger of the month for December, 2006, posted an interesting entry on December 1, 2006 about the
Global Information Grid (GIG) and Net Centricity.
The concepts of information warfare and information operations are closely tied to the GIG and to the ultimate goal of Information Assurance (IA).
I have to ponder a moment while I contemplate the level of Information Assurance associated with publications that remove definitions…
- Should a reputable dictionary at the very least indicate that this term is archaic?
Are any other archaic definitions missing?
Could this very lack of information be construed as a form of Information Warfare itself?
As we like to say in library collection development, “let’s keep a copy for historical research.”
Air University’s Air War College, Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center, publishes an excellent bibliography called Information Operations, Warfare, Info Ops, Infowar, Cyberwar with a section devoted exclusively to information warfare.
If you are interested in learning more about this topic, I’d suggest you immediately click on thelink to this bibliography and read — just in case any more archaic concepts are removed.
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