#159 Steve Schiavoni on Competitive Deception in the Indo-Pacific

<p>The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.</p> <p>During this episode, US Army MAJ Steve Schiavoni discusses his Master’s thesis from the US Army Command and General Staff College entitled: Lying, in Wait: Competitive Deception in the Indo-Pacific. The United States faces its stated pacing adversary, China, in competition in the Indo-Pacific region. As the Joint Force reorients, deception has re-emerged in updated doctrine as a competitive tool. The updated doctrine encourages the use of deception but provides little unclassified guidance on training or implementation of deception outside of tactical engagements. This thesis analyzes the foundations of strategic deception applied to the context of current US and Chinese competition in the Indo-Pacific region. Deception is modeled as a competitive wargame focused on the Indo-Pacific theater. Fundamental aspects of deception tied to US and Chinese strategic cultural lenses and objectives form the basis for the game’s model. Analysis of the wider concept of deception reveals challenges and opportunities for the US in employing strategic deception below the level of armed conflict. This thesis offers an avenue for training deception planning using an experiential learning method.</p> <p>Research Question: </p> <p><strong>Resources</strong>:</p> <ul> <li aria-level="1">Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned <ul> <li aria-level="2"><a href= "https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-146"> #146 Sebastian Bae on Gaming</a></li> <li aria-level="2"><a href= "https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-90"> #90 Dave Acosta on Informationally Disadvantaged</a></li> </ul> </li> <li aria-level="1"><a href= "https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Deception-Unorthodox-Warfa