Satan vs. Satan: the use of Black PSYOP to regain the tactical initiative in the counterinsurgency fight

In the counterinsurgency fight, the insurgent has the tactical initiative because he is able to pick the time, place, and intensity of his own engagements. The insurgent's environment, however, is a very difficult one despite his initiative. The insurgent must balance the mutually exclusive requirements of hiding (operational security) and fighting (operational effectiveness) in order to gain/maintain legitimacy without being prematurely destroyed by the state. What if the state could influence this balance? What if there was a way for the state to directly target the insurgent's resource allocation between these competing requirements? Typically, states attempt this through influencing the population to support the state and reject the insurgent. But what if the state could use the insurgent's own propaganda machine against itself? Through mathematical modeling, I will show that Black PSYOP enables the state to make strategic moves on behalf of the insurgent that are so detrimental to his cause that he must act in order to counter "his own" moves. In this way, the state is able to turn "Satan" against himself. "How shall then his kingdom stand?" ---Matthew 12:26.

Grantor dc:publisher

Monterey California. Naval Postgraduate School

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Mugg, David E.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Giordano, Frank

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10945/3442

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:calhoun.nps.edu:10945/3442