Dennis Kux, “Soviet Active Measures and Disinformation”
The U.S. Army War College Quarterly, Vol 15, No. 1 (1985)
What they say…
The article you are about to listen to was written in 1985 by Dennis Kux, an American diplomat stationed in Pakistan and Indonesia in the main.
The U.S. intelligence and foreign policy communities were already well-aware of the Soviet use of active measures and disinformation, but it was really during the early and mid-1980s, under the Reagan administration, that the Americans got serious about taking the battle to the Soviets. Including political and information warfare in the fight was considered essential to winning the Cold War. This overarching strategic objective sparked a number of operations against the Soviets, and greater attention to political and information warfare actions domestically.
The article is dated, but it gives a view into the knowledge of active measures at the time. The IC and sector specific academic colleagues have since added to knowledge in this field: documents have been de-classified, and investigations are now gaining attention with the general public. That being said, Kux still offers his knowledge and sound advice on countering disinformation.
Cold Warriors, their students, and practitioners of political warfare today are rightly disturbed about the information environment which has become a battlefield pitting fact and truth against misinformation and disinformation—both sides fighting for the hearts and minds of national publics across the world.
The Russians and other state and non-state malign actors have never stopped and will always use non-kinetic forms of warfare against their declared adversaries. These tools of gray zone warfare are certainly effective, efficient and enjoy plausible deniability.
More to come…
EuroFile’s “What they say” series will be publishing articles that are no longer available in print as well as articles and chapters from books that are not available in audio format.
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