INFORMATION OPERATIONS
Cyberspace Governance in India: Transform or Perish – Part I
Over the last decade or so, cyberspace has emerged as a new arena of conflict between nations. In order to address this challenge, the more agile nations have brought about transformative changes in their cyber defence organisations. In India, the two main agencies tasked with the defence of our National Cyberspace are the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), and the Computer Emergency Response Team – India (CERT-In). It needs to be analysed whether or not such an arrangement is the right apex structure for the defence of our cyberspace. This three-part series analyses the important issue of cyber governance in India. In this first part, a notional model of our National Cyberspace is first presented. It then identifies the different types of cyber threats from the perspective of organising for cyberspace defence and discusses several cyber defence strategies which are relevant in our context.
IW Structures for the Indian Armed Forces – Part IV
The first three parts of this four part series discussed the conceptual foundations of IW as also organizational structures which have been adopted by other armies. In this culminating part, an overview is first given of the IW organisations which presently exist at our national level as well as within the Indian Armed Forces. Thereafter, drawing upon concepts discussed in the preceding parts, a large number of recommendations are made on how organisational transformation may be carried out by us in order to effectively address the challenges emerging on the information-intensive battlefield of the 21st Century.
IW Structures for the Indian Armed Forces – Part III
Part I of this four part series dwelt upon terminologies, concepts and doctrines, and identified CO, EW and Psy W as the three primary components of IW. Part II analysed the areas of convergence as well as differences amongst these components, as also various facets of how these capabilities may be operationally deployed in an integrated manner. With the conceptual underpinnings of IW having thus been established, here we endeavour to briefly describe IW structures which presently exist in some of the defense forces of the world which are of relevance to us, specifically China, United States, Russia and Pakistan, with a view to drawing lessons and thence analysing our own structures against this backdrop.
IW Structures for the Indian Armed Forces – Part II
Part I of this four part series dwelt upon and clarified the terminologies, concepts and doctrines which this work uses as a basis for proposing effective and viable IW structures for the Indian Armed Forces. In this second part, the areas of convergence as well as differences amongst CO, EW and Psy W components of IO are first brought out. Thereafter, some considerations which determine the manner in which these capabilities are operationally deployed in an integrated manner are discussed.
IW Structures for the Indian Armed Forces – Part I
The primary focus of this four part series is to suggest IW structures for the Indian Armed Forces which are effective enough to match up to the challenges of 21st Century warfare. This analysis takes cognizance of the fact that there is deep resistance to change within the Indian military hierarchy, despite the radical changes taking place in modern warfare concepts. Therefore, a transformational – as opposed to a (preferred) revolutionary – approach is adopted towards achieving the desired capabilities. In this first part, an attempt is made to dwell upon and clarify the terminologies, concepts and doctrines which are taken as the basis for proposing effective and viable IW structures for the Indian Armed Forces.
Cyberspace Operations: National Strategy and Doctrine
Cyberwar can no longer be brushed off as fantasy or “hype” and is very much a phenomenon in the realm of reality. Indeed, several instances of cyber-attacks have already taken place which lend themselves to be classified as acts of cyberwar at the national strategic level. Thus, it is imperative that necessary steps be taken to secure our national cyberspace on a war footing, even as initiatives to usher in Digital India are being taken forward in right earnest. It would not be far off the mark to state that the focus so far in India has been on cyber-crime, hactivism and industrial cyber espionage, while state-level cyber warfare, offensive and defensive, has not received the consideration it deserves. There is an urgent need, therefore, to conceptualizing the right strategy and doctrine for defending our national cyberspace. This piece attempts to discuss this critical issue at some length.
Cyberspace: The Fifth Dimension of Warfare – Part II
The dimensions of warfare have evolved over the centuries from Land and Sea to encompass Air and Outer Space in the 20th Century. With the heavy dependence on networks in the 21st Century, Cyberspace is emerging as an increasingly contested domain, with critical importance for the projection of military force. In the first part of this two-piece write-up, the emergence of Cyberspace as an operational domain of warfare, as well as the types and classifications of cyber-attacks/ cyberwar were discussed. In this part, some real-world examples of cyberwar over the past decade will be described, and certain doctrinal aspects related to offensive cyberwar strategies as well as some legal implications of conducting cyberwar will be dwelt upon.
Cyberspace: The Fifth Dimension of Warfare – Part I
The dimensions of warfare have evolved over the centuries from Land and Sea to encompass Air and Outer Space in the 20th Century. With the heavy dependence on networks in the 21st Century, Cyberspace is emerging as an increasingly contested domain, with critical importance for the projection of military force. Here, in a two-piece write-up, we discuss the emergence of Cyberspace as an operational domain of warfare, deliberate on types and classifications of cyber-attacks/ cyberwar, briefly describe some real-world examples of cyberwar over the past decade, and finally dwell upon certain doctrinal aspects related to offensive cyberwar strategies as well as some legal implications of conducting cyberwar.
21st Century Warfare: From “Battlefield” to “Battlespace”
It is the increasing complexity of the modern warfighting arena which has prompted the replacement of the traditionally used term “battlefield” by the term “battlespace” in doctrinal literature, as the former tends to implicitly highlight the pre-dominance of land based operations over others, while “battlespace” as a term has a neutral flavour with respect to the nature of the arena. In recent years, several modern armies have adopted the five-dimensional model, comprising of the land, sea, air, space and cyberspace warfighting domains, in their military doctrines to define this battlespace. In this write-up this model, together with Cebrowski’s Domains of Conflict construct, is reviewed and analysed.
Information Operations: Origins and Fundamentals – Part II
Information Warfare (IW) is expected to play an increasingly dominant role in twenty first century conflict, wherein military superiority is a composite function of combat, electronic and information superiority. Various armies are continuously evolving their concepts, doctrines and roadmaps for operationalising IW concepts. This two-part write-up attempts to introduce the concept of IW/ Information Operations (IO). Here in Part II of the write-up, some well-accepted IW taxonomies are first given out, followed by a brief overview of the notion of Information Superiority. Finally, some comments are made on the status of IW in the Indian context.