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24 Brown J. World Aff. 159 (2017-2018)
The Cyber Character of Political Warfare

handle is hein.journals/brownjwa24 and id is 159 raw text is: The Cyber Character of Political Warfare BENJAMIN JENSEN THE WORLD IS WITNESSING THE reawakening of an old strategic practice: politi- cal warfare. The connectivity of the modern world puts a premium on coercive diplomacy in the shadows. States such as Russia conduct a new form of politi- cal sabotage, using a mix of cyberpower and propaganda to attack electoral institutions and undermine faith in the democratic process.' Moscow uses cyber operations to carry out covert, coercive campaigns short of war; it tampered with elections and disseminated fake news across multimedia in Ukraine in 2014, the United States in 2016, and France in 2017. Cyber incidents such as these show how states are mixing the old with the new. Much like the early Cold War, emerging cyber operations combine espionage, propaganda, economic warfare, and sabotage in an effort to signal resolve and shape adversaries' foreign policies.2 The character of war and strategic competition is changing. The new cold war is online, yet just as fraught with escalation risks and uncertainty as it was 30 years ago. This article draws on early Cold War declassified documents and histori- ography as well as the emerging literature on cyber operations to explore the changing character of strategic competition and coercion. While the Third Offset-with its promise of a military affairs revolution defined by unmanned battlefields and artificial intelligence-grabs the headlines, a more subtle change is taking place beneath the surface.3 States are discovering how to use cyber coercion as a means of undermining adversaries and influencing those adversar- ies' foreign policy options. This article proceeds by defining political warfare, drawing out examples of key operational forms, and situating them within the BENJAMIN JENSEN holds a dual appointment as Associate Professor at Marine Corps University and as Scholar-in-Residence at American University, School of International Service. His research uses a mix of experimental methods, simulations, quantitative analysis, and historical cases to analyze the changing character of strategic competition and conflict. Copyright © 2017 by the Brown journal ofWorldAffairs FALL/WINTER 2017 * VOLUME XXIV, ISSUE I

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