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Since almost half a year ago, my guest on this episode, Edward Haugland, and I have frequently discussed the cognitive war in both The National Security Hour and The Voice of Dr. Yan. Why do we focus on that topic? The answer is simple: It’s a perpetual war for human beings.
Currently, the Chinese Communist Party, the biggest threat to the free world, has spent decades developing sophisticated cognitive warfare strategies and applied them intensively in every aspect of our lives. They manipulate our minds, including thoughts, emotions, and psychological activities. To serve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the CCP’s goal of that invisible war. Unfortunately, most people, whether Chinese or Americans, are unaware of the ongoing cognitive interference against us.
The Chinese military theory “Unrestricted Warfare: Two Air Force Senior Colonels on Scenarios for War and the Operational Art in an Era of Globalization” was published in 1999. It is also called China’s master plan to destroy America. Nowadays, the unrestricted tactics described in the theory have gradually come true, while cognitive intervention is a central pillar buttressing unrestricted warfare strategies.
However, the improvement of cognitive war never stops. For example, in one article titled “Be command of cognition: the critical support of victory in war,” published in PLA’s Daily (the official media of the Chinese military) in 2022, the military theorist Chen Dong-Heng emphasized that the human decisive factor in the war, and the most important mechanism of modern warfare is that “being command of cognition decides the control of the battles, which will achieve the victory with minimum cost.” Therefore, it requires innovative theories to control cognition, combined with cutting-edge technology (e.g., AI and mind-control weapons) and intensive exercise.(https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2022-09/04/nw.D110000gmrb_20220904_1-07.htm)
As PLA’s General Yang Cun-She summarized in “Analysis on the characteristics and development trend of cognitive war” in 2022 (http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/army/content/2022-08/16/content_8769684.html), there are eight points:
- The cognitive domain is the key domain to turn military advantage into political triumph.
- The decisions and activities of the counterpart can be changed by cognitive intervention.
- The battles for the cognitive domain are full-time attack and defense, universal coverage throughout the full process, shaping in all the domains, and whole-of-government operations.
- It’s the key to control the defining power, dominance, and jurisdiction of the operations.
- The ethics and jurisprudence are the focus of the fight.
- The information is the essential “bullets” during cognitive intervention and defense.
- Military operations are the important support of the shaping of cognition.
- Countermeasure technology for cognition will be more directly applied in the war.
In addition to understanding the enemies’ strategies, we also need countermeasures against the aggressive cognitive war. To address the issues, Edward Haugland wrote in his new book “The Cognitive War: Why We Are Losing and How We can Win.“
“A primary challenge is awakening the American people, our political, military, and other leaders to the fact we are in an actual war – an ongoing cognitive war – that is both domestic and global in nature… The other side seeks to promote tyranny, dictatorships, subjugation, and control of the mind in efforts to obtain absolute power. It is an age-old battle between good and evil at its core, but with variances at times that straddle a thin gray line between freedom and tyranny.”
“The objectives of this book are two-fold:
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- a) Drive specific action, a whole of government/society – national action, to advance the development of capabilities and capacity to compete in the cognitive war to ensure the resilience and security of our nation, including overhauling our national security apparatus to ensure the resilience and security of our Republic.
- b) Avoid unnecessary kinetic wars, which directly result from losing the cognitive war.”
“The means to compete and win battles in the cognitive domain do not necessarily require new investments, but rather shifting, realigning, integrating, and realigning current cultures, structures, and investments to optimize the inherent strengths and benefits that can be gained from a more interoperable, integrated, and functionally aligned national security enterprise (apparatus).”
“However, implementation of the proposed solutions will require significant paradigm shifts across the legislative and executive branches of our government, as the strategic ignorance and cultural impediments are major challenges that need to be quickly conquered. The solutions will also require our allies and their governance structures to accomplish the same.”
Based on his extensive experience in the intelligence field for over four decades, throughout this book, Edward provides us with a whole picture of the cognitive war, as well as his precise and precious insights to ensure our freedoms and independence. It’s definitely worth reading, and I will continuously share my opinions with Edward in future episodes.
Edward Haugland is a retired federal Senior Executive and US Air Force veteran. His over four decades of service include serving as a senior leader in the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, and State. He’s served as the senior advisor to several IC agency heads, the Assistant Inspector General for Inspections for the Intelligence Community, the Chairman of CIA’s strategic planning, a Deputy team lead for the INF On-site nuclear arms inspections in the former Soviet Union, and as award-winning CIA intelligence analyst. He is currently an independent consultant focusing on cognitive warfare. He is also a regular host on The National Security Hour on the American Out Loud Talk Radio Network.
His new book, “The Cognitive War: Why We Are Losing and How We can Win,” can be ordered now.
The Voice of Dr. Yan can be heard on Saturday and Sunday at 4 pm. Listen on iHeart Radio, our world-class media player, or our free apps on Apple, Android, or Alexa. All episodes can be found on podcast networks worldwide the day after airing on talk radio.
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Well I won’t be buying that story book. And I know who invented covid and age doesn’t obviously.