Jeremiah “Lumpy” Lumbaca, PhD
The battlefield of the future is the human mind, and the very concepts of reality and truth are the target. Cognitive warfare goes far beyond traditional psychological operations; this new form of conflict combines cyber tools, psychological sciences, and neurosciences to alter perceptions and influence decision- making. Source: Image generated using Google Gemini 2.5 Flash, July 2, 2025.
Consider the power to dictate who is perceived as “right” or “wrong” in conflicts like the Russia–Ukraine War or Israeli–Gazan conflict, or to reshape the outcome of a nation’s election in the minds of its citizens. Imagine the U.S. and its allies not merely swaying opinions but reconstructing the very reality in which adversaries like North Korea, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Iran, or violent extremists make judgments, aligning their perceptions with U.S. strategic objectives.
In an era of strategic competition where gray zone conflict and hybrid warfare tactics are now commonplace, the human mind has emerged as a distinct and critical domain of conflict. There are differing definitions of the term cognitive warfare. Bernard Claverie and François du Cluzel define it as “an unconventional form of warfare that uses cyber tools to alter enemy cognitive processes, exploit mental biases or reflexive thinking, provoke thought distortions, influence decision-making and hinder actions, with negative effects, both at the individual and collective levels.”¹ NATO’s strategic warfare development command, known as Allied Command Transformation, notes that cognitive warfare includes “activities conducted in synchronization with other Instruments of Power, to affect attitudes and behaviors, by influencing, protecting, or disrupting individual, group, or population level cognition, to gain an advantage over an adversary.”² Whole-of-society manipulation is a new norm.³
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