Mary Crossan,
In a 2023 post, NATO's Strategic Warfare Development Command unpacked a relatively new concept known as cognitive warfare. At its core, according to NATO, cognitive warfare is the manipulation of stories, information, and ideas to "gain an advantage." It is not warfare in the traditional sense of the word in that we aren't seeing soldiers exchanging fire on a battlefield. Instead, information is being manipulated to create stories and influence ideas that then circulate among the populations of a target country. These ideas then erode the norms and values that hold the country together, opening opportunities that an adversary can exploit. Indeed, we are regularly being targeted with cognitive warfare by our adversaries.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), with its far-reaching influence, has heightened the threat and underscored the need for solutions. Every day, we consume a diet of unhealthy and toxic information that nudges behavior, often without us understanding how or knowing the difference between fact and fiction. Plenty has been written about the systems required to detect and thwart these unwanted attacks, including cybersecurity and combating fake news; however, there has been little attention to how cognitive warfare exposes and undermines individual character, and how strengthening character should be a strategic priority to counter its effects. Identifying how cognitive warfare exposes character and what to do about it should prompt educators and organizations to consider character development as a strategic investment that not only achieves the aims of strengthening human flourishing and sustained excellence but is a cornerstone of strengthening democracy. Like anything that provides a sustainable competitive advantage, understanding, developing, and embedding character in organizations is complex; however, there are three key pillars to consider.
1. Understand Character As Vulnerability And Strength
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