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The military's conception of information operations is broad, dividing the domain into three functional areas. The first has to do with how information relates to the overall success of the mission. Information in this sense includes intelligence, logistics, personnel, legal issues, and weather, among other factors. The second functional area has to do with how information is transported to relevant decision makers. This area, encompassing hardware and software, includes communication links, satellites, cables, and procedures, formats, and filters for information transport and retrieval. The third area can be called information operations proper, and includes measures for ensuring the operational security of information, electronic warfare, deception and disinformation, as well as techniques for the physical destruction of the enemy's information systems. Also included in this third area are public affairs, psychological operations (PSYOP), and civil affairs. It is these last three areas that appear most evidently relevant to peace operations. In its broadest sense, this report asks whether the notion of struggles for control over information identifiable in situations of conflict also has relevance for situations of third-party conflict management for peace operations.
The question for our purposes is how relevant are conceptions of information warfare for peace operations? The report is organized in four main parts. In the first part we describe and analyze the sorts of activities that comprise information operations, beginning with how the term is used in military and defense contexts. The report studies information activities in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Haiti, paying particular attention to how these activities changed throughout the course of the respective peace operations in both settings. In the last chapter the two cases are compared and contrasted. We conclude with a set of cautions and recommendations for future study and analysis.
