The Great Pacific MindWar

MindWar is a concept first introduced by Colonel Richard Sutter in the 1970s, and later substantially expanded on by the notorious Liutenant Colonel Michael Aquino and Major General Paul Vallely. It is not the same as PSYOP, but PSYOP (Psychological Operations) has evolved over time to more closely resemble it.

MindWar, like PSYOP, is something of an archaic term. Today MISO (Military Information Support Operations) has replaced both of them, and yet neither MISO or PSYOP ever truly fulfilled the great promise of MindWar.

MindWar differs from PSYOP and MISO primarily in that its main focus is strategic rather than tactical or operational. Instead of supporting battlefield objectives as does PSYOP, the relationship is inverted such that battlefield objectives support MindWar. MindWar is, thus, a “governing strategic doctrine” rather than a tactical accessory.

While MISO has recently evolved to incorporate more strategic aspects it still remains subordinated to large war planning efforts. It is a component of the larger grand strategy framework rather than being the framework itself.

A well executed MindWar is one in which the enemy is not only convinced to avoid violence before the battle begins, but one in which he is also convinced to adopt national policies beneficial to our interests.

No violence is necessary if strategic policy objectives can be achieved through a purely informational form of warfare.

MindWar differs from MISO in that it shares the double duty of demolishing the will to victory of the enemy population and bolstering that of our own. This kind of explicit targeting of domestic populations is typically prohibited for MISO, but is a central component of MindWar.

Michael Aquino insisted that MindWar must operate on the most rigorous ethical principles and only ever speak the truth. Although actual battlefield experience has shown this is not strictly necessary, any MindWar based on lies exposes itself to the risk of systematic self destruction and catastrophic backfire if even a small portion of those lies is exposed. This relationship with the truth is one that is not necessarily so important for MISO, which quite often employs deception and misdirection.

There is a growing body of evidence that the Chinese Military has evolved a highly sophisticated MindWar apparatus which developed out of Beijing’s Cognitive Warfare initiative as part of the “Unrestricted Warfare” doctrine.

PLA training is increasingly emphasizing “Cognitive Domain Operations” which target enemy morale and decision making processes. These methods aim to influence not just foreign military personnel but also their political leaders and civilian populations. Additionally, they’ve integrated advanced capabilities like AI, big data, and cyber warfare into this process.

On the civilian front, China’s weaponization of Social Media and Information Networks like TikTok and WeChat - which have been linked to covert influence operations - is just the tip of the iceberg.

Under the “Three Warfares” doctrine, Beijing has used state-run outlets like CGTN, Xinhua and the Global Times to build a narrative of their inevitable dominance and bolster the spirits of their domestic population while attacking that of their rivals.

In China MindWar remains relatively simple given the incredible amount of information Beijing holds about its citizens. It used to be more challenging abroad, but these days massive data pools are employed to map the minds of their targets before decisions are made about how to influence them. Where do those data pools come from? Look no further than events like the National Public Data leaks or the Salt Typhoon attack.

Our own miserable incompetence has allowed foreign MindWar to obtain all the data and access it needs to influence our population. Despite how many people mock the supposed absurdity of a simple app influencing us, TikTok has been incredibly successful in shaping the minds of our youngest generation.

Infuriatingly, much of the time, Beijing doesn’t even have to hack anything to obtain cognitive maps suitable for targeting purposes. American companies collect and sell much of this data to the highest bidder anyways, which is why your phone sends you pet food ads if you’ve got a cat.

The TikTok ban is a step in the right direction but it’s a band-aid on a bullet hole. What we need are rigorous domestic privacy protections, a complete ban on the non-consensual collection of consumer data, and a serious investment into our own Information Warfare capabilities.

In addition, as much as it pains some of us to do, we also have to shut up and learn from the Chinese. It‘s no coincidence that Beijing is so adept at this art. One of its earliest masters, Sun Tzu, is a revered figure in Chinese history.

Sun Tzu’s foundational understanding of MindWar, though it was not called such at the time, was passed on through the generations of Chinese military culture through to today and refined in the fires of the Communist Revolution and Korean War.

All this is not to say that the United States is some innocent baby waddling its way blindly through the dark. We’ve produced some of the greatest information warriors in human history. We have a track record of our own cognitive warfare initiatives using public broadcasting services, such as in Project MOCKINGBIRD.

It was, also, the United States which first properly formalized the adoption of the Magician’s art into our strategic deception doctrine with the assistance of the famous stage magician and Intelligence asset John Mulholland.

We, too, were the first to develop and leverage a truly successful international MindWar apparatus in the form of Hollywood. After all, any film which seeks to borrow fancy toys from the military has to run their script by the Pentagon. The McCarthy witch hunts weren’t just about excising communists from Hollywood, they were about ensuring that individuals friendly to the national interests of the day were inculcated in positions of admiration and authority there.

American history is replete with examples of Information Warfare serving as a justification for the abuse of civil rights and for the people involved to spread their own personal interpretation of morality. This is a challenge we must overcome because this is not a domain we can afford to refrain from fighting in. If we choose not to fight within this space it will be dominated not by stuck up domestic bureaucrats but Chinese Military officers.

We must find a way to develop, spread, and ensure the supremacy of our own viral Cognitive Agents while avoiding the pitfalls of authoritarian thought control. This is not an option we have the luxury of choosing but an imperative we are forced to confront by the masterful use of this rapidly evolving domain of warfare by our chief rivals in Beijing.

The Great MindWar in the Pacific is already underway, with both sides rushing to convince nations like Vietnam and the Philippines of their own inevitable victory and to ensure the policies of these countries conform to their own national interests. The MindWar in North America, however, is being fought by just one side - and that side is China.

If you want to learn more about MindWar and how it differs from PSYOP (and what I left out or got wrong in this article) you may enjoy our dramatic reading of Michael Aquino’s notorious paper on the matter accessible below.

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