This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information.(January 2024) |
David Ronfeldt (David Frederick Ronfeldt) (born 20 June 1941) is an American researcher known for his work on information-centric and network-centric warfare. He holds a doctoral degree from Stanford University and has been a prominent figure at the RAND Corporation.
Ronfeldt has made significant contributions to the understanding of social evolution, particularly with his development of the TIMN framework, which theorizes the evolution of societies through four forms of organization: Tribes, Institutions, Markets, and Networks, which provides a lens to view social evolution and has been influential in various academic and policy-making circles. [1]
With John Arquilla, he coined the term "Noopolitik," which represents the network-based geopolitics of knowledge. [2] [3]
They argue that the development of education and training in "noopolitik" will be critical for future strategists, addressing the current underuse of soft power due to its limited theoretical framework compared to hard power. [4]
David Ronfeldt completed his doctoral studies at Stanford University, focusing on social science disciplines. His academic background laid the foundation for his future research endeavors, which intersected the fields of political science, sociology, and information technology.
Ronfeldt's career at the RAND Corporation has spanned several decades, during which he has extensively researched the impact of information technology on warfare and society. His work has been pivotal in understanding how technological advancements influence political and social structures. [5]
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization, destabilization, division, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a saboteur. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identities because of the consequences of their actions and to avoid invoking legal and organizational requirements for addressing sabotage.
Information warfare (IW) is the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. It is different from cyberwarfare that attacks computers, software, and command control systems. Information warfare is the manipulation of information trusted by a target without the target's awareness so that the target will make decisions against their interest but in the interest of the one conducting information warfare. As a result, it is not clear when information warfare begins, ends, and how strong or destructive it is.
Electronic civil disobedience can refer to any type of civil disobedience in which the participants use information technology to carry out their actions. Electronic civil disobedience often involves computers and the Internet and may also be known as hacktivism. The term "electronic civil disobedience" was coined in the critical writings of Critical Art Ensemble (CAE), a collective of tactical media artists and practitioners, in their seminal 1996 text, Electronic Civil Disobedience: And Other Unpopular Ideas. Electronic civil disobedience seeks to continue the practices of nonviolent-yet-disruptive protest originally pioneered by American poet Henry David Thoreau, who in 1848 published Civil Disobedience.
A revolution in military affairs (RMA) is a hypothesis in military theory about the future of warfare, often connected to technological and organizational recommendations for military reform.
Fourth-generation warfare (4GW) is conflict characterized by a blurring of the distinction between war and politics, and of the distinction between combatants and civilians.
Ron Arnold was an American writer and activist. He was the Executive Vice-President of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise. He wrote frequently on natural resource issues and is an opponent of the environmental movement. Critics saw Arnold as promoting abuse of the environment, typified in an assessment by Wild Wilderness executive director Scott Silver: "Fifteen years after creating his 25 Point Wise-Use Agenda, an agenda prescribing unrestrained, unregulated and unconscionable abuse of the American commons, Ron Arnold is within striking distance of checking off every agenda item on his list." A key U.S. Senate staffer writing in 2011 noted his impact on federal legislation.
John Arquilla is an American analyst and academic of international relations.
In political science, Noopolitik, formed by a combination of the Greek words νόος nóos ("knowledge") and πολιτικός politikós, is the network-based geopolitics of knowledge. The term was invented by defense experts John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt in a 1999 RAND Corporation study and often appears in connection with that of smart power.
In futurology, cyberocracy describes a hypothetical form of government that rules by the effective use of information. The exact nature of a cyberocracy is largely speculative as currently there have been no cyberocratic governments; however, a growing number of cyberocratic elements can be found in many developed nations. Cyberocracy theory is largely the work of David Ronfeldt, who published several papers on the theory. Some sources equate cyberocracy with algorithmic governance, although algorithms are not the only means of processing information.
Swarming is a battlefield tactic designed to maximize target saturation, and thereby overwhelm or saturate the defences of the principal target or objective. Defenders can overcome attempts at swarming by launching counter-swarming measures that are designed to neutralize or otherwise repel such attacks.
The following is a list of terms specific to anarchists. Anarchism is a political and social movement which advocates voluntary association in opposition to authoritarianism and hierarchy.
Proactive cyber defense, means acting in anticipation to oppose an attack through cyber and cognitive domains. Proactive cyber defense can be understood as options between offensive and defensive measures. It includes interdicting, disrupting or deterring an attack or a threat's preparation to attack, either pre-emptively or in self-defence.
The Chiapas conflict comprised the 1994 Zapatista uprising, the 1995 Zapatista crisis and ensued tension between the Mexican state and the indigenous peoples and subsistence farmers of Chiapas from the 1990s to the 2010s.
Graham E. Fuller is an American author and political analyst, specializing in Islamist extremism. Formerly vice-chair of the National Intelligence Council, he also served as Station Chief in Kabul for the CIA. A "think piece" that Fuller wrote for the CIA was identified as instrumental in leading to the Iran–Contra affair.
Milw0rm is a group of hacktivists best known for penetrating the computers of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, the primary nuclear research facility of India, on June 3, 1998. The group conducted hacks for political reasons, including the largest mass hack up to that time, inserting an anti-nuclear weapons agenda and peace message on its hacked websites. The group's logo featured the slogan "Putting the power back in the hands of the people."
A. J. Irwin is a former federal agent who performed covert operations domestically and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, resulting in the prosecution and dismantling of criminal organizations involving alien smuggling, narcotics trafficking, weapons trafficking and other illicit activities. Additionally, he managed anti-terrorism and anti-smuggling enforcement operations for the Department of Homeland Security for the central corridor of the U.S. He is currently the managing director of Investigations for Yarbrough Strategic Advisors (YSA) in Dallas, Texas.
Howard George Willis Ware, popularly known as Willis Howard Ware was an American computer pioneer who co-developed the IAS machine that laid down the blueprint of the modern day computer in the late 20th century. He was also a pioneer of privacy rights, social critic of technology policy, and a founder in the field of computer security.
Command and influence is a component of Military C2 and is a key aspect of Terrorist Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures.
The People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force is the space, cyber, political, and electronic warfare force and the 5th branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It was established in December 2015 as part of the first wave of the Chinese military reforms.
Thomas Rid is a political scientist best known for his work on the history and risks of information technology in conflict. He is Professor of Strategic Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Previously he was a professor of security studies at the Department of War Studies, King's College London.