CHALLENGES FACING INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT IN CONTEMPORARY CONFLICTS

Authors

  • Milan Djordje Miljković University of Defense

Keywords:

Keywords: information, information environment, information warfare, fog of war.

Abstract

The increased number of factors and participants in a conflict has additionally complicated the information environment where these conflicts occur, due to the mass application of information and communication technology (ITC), as well as to global networking that substantially affected the strategic environment where modern conflicts are actually taking place.

 

Numerous features characterize the complex information environment where contemporary conflicts take place, including: a) the lack of information – regarded as an obvious source of omissions and failures in conflict management in the classical theory; b) too much information – viewed by some theorists as a major problem in relation to the lack of information; and c) the deception – considered by the third group of security theorists to be a bigger problem than the one of separating the relevant signals coming from the "sea of noise".

 

The complexity of the field of information makes taking the right decisions in conducting the conflict even more difficult and confirms the legitimacy of Clausewitz's thesis, put long time ago, that "much of the information obtained in the war is contradictory, even more false, and by far the most suspicious." In reducing the uncertainty of the conflict, the experience of the people who are engaged in leading the conflict, who assess, analyze and decide on the engagement of forces in the war, plays a crucial role.

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Published

2020-11-27