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spatelis started the topic Planning to Deceive in the forum Junior Officer 6 years, 3 months ago
Leaders,
Military Deception (MILDEC) is defined by Joint Publication 3-13.4 as, “actions executed to deliberately mislead adverse military, paramilitary, or violent extremist organization (VEO) decision makers, thereby causing the adversary to take specific actions (or inactions) that will contribute to the accomplishment of the friendly mission” (emphasis added). I have highlighted the word deliberately, because I believe this word denotes that deception is planned and resourced in order to achieve effects. The enemy is deceived in order to gain surprise.
Surprise is a key element of military operational planning. In the future operating environment (FOE), the military services have outlined that the ability for U.S forces to be both sensed and targeted has rapidly increased. The United States has enjoyed a sensor and capability overmatch during our war in Afghanistan/Iraq, and adversaries have developed techniques and capabilities to mitigate U.S capability. The attached article from the USMC’s Tactics and Operations Group , titled ‘Meet the Russian Battalion Tactical Group’, discusses how Russians are incorporating significant electronic warfare (EW) and information operation (IO) formations as low as the platoon level to create deception effects. Currently, the U.S Army retains similar EW and IO capabilities above the battalion level.
This is not just an Army problem, it is a joint problem. As Mr. Freedberg Jr. states in his article, ‘Invisible Bullets: The Navy’s Big Problem in Future War’ another service provides perspective on how being seen is to be killed.
Solutions to the deception problem are also not new. In 1986, LTG Bernard E. Trainor, USMC (Ret) suggests that a non-selected course of action (COA) during COA development can serve as the basis for a deception operation in his article, ‘Deception’ in the Marine Corps Gazette. Perhaps this is a framework for future planning.
1. What are some creative ways to plan for deliberate deception from the Squad level up to achieve the effects that prevent detection and surprise the enemy?
2. What is the right element size to manage EW, IO, and cyber enablers to create deception effects?
3. How is deception achieved in each warfighting function?
Marine Corps Gazette Reference:
