The Pentagon and the media battle space

Strategy Page:

The U.S. Department of Defense, which has been working on Information War strategy and tactics for two decades now, has developed a new doctrine for this form of combat. The new ideas including better tracking of who is doing what, and making Information War tools available to more troops, at all levels. The new program will spend at least $330 million over the next six years.



One of the first tasks is to build a system for monitoring the "battlefield." That is, a computer based system that will monitor what's happening in the media around the world, as it applies to Department of Defense operations. Such systems have long been in use by firms in the world financial markets, and it may well be that the Department of Defense got some of these new ideas from there. Meanwhile, the Information War tactics at all levels of the military will be upgraded and coordinated to make the most of positive media, and limit damage from negative stories (especially ones that are false or misleading.)

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Let's see. We are getting creamed in the media battle space and the Defense Department decides to spend $330 million to keep an eye on it. That is like trying to keep an eye on a battle that is being lost rather than sending in reinforcments to save the day. Is there a general in charge of the media battle space? If so, I have no idea who it is. We know that General Abizaid is in charge of Centcom, but we do not know who is in charge of the media battle space where the enemy has said half of the war is taking place. If some one was in charge, you would think that the media would be eager to say who it is.