Wars without Weapons

The brain is the most complex part of the human body. It is the seat of intelligence, interpreter of the senses, controller of behaviour, and centre of decision-making. The human brain was once incomprehensible, but in the past decade—thanks to the accelerating pace of research in neurological and behavioural sciences—new techniques such as information warfare, and its more advanced form, cognitive warfare, have evolved, gaining strength and continuing to provide a decisive advantage in tomorrow’s warfare. Cognitive warfare is a new tool with an unprecedented capacity to conduct virtual societal warfare.

It creates conditions to exploit the targeted public of adversaries, weakening them by destabilising and interfering in routines, which can eventually lead to undermining the autonomy of their decisions and the sovereignty of their institutions. With the advent of the concept of cognitive warfare, the ‘third combat dimension’ is now open: the cognitive dimension. Warfare in the cognitive domain mobilises a wider range of battlespace than the physical and informational dimensions can. It is about controlling human beings. It is redefining modern conflict. No rules count anymore. It is a no-holds-barred situation in cognitive warfare, where the human brain is the target. Trust is the target.

Information warfare took the world into a new and challenging arena, but cognitive warfare is unique, as it has the capacity to target an entire nation’s human capital. Interestingly, it is free from any military operations or conventional conflict in that sense, and can be effective in a standalone mode—even during peacetime or in a crisis.

Disinformation, propaganda, psychological operations, cyber warfare, and social engineering are some of the types of information and cognitive warfare. Disinformation is the intentional spread of false or misleading information to deceive or manipulate people, often for political, financial, or ideological gain. It includes fake news, manipulated media, and propaganda, aiming to distort facts and influence public opinion through fake news articles, manipulated or fabricated videos, clickbait headlines, or fabricated statistics.

Propaganda is the deliberate use of biased or misleading information to shape perceptions, influence behaviour, or advance a specific agenda. It often appeals to emotion, omits opposing views, and is widely used in politics, advertising, and the media to sway public opinion. This is often done through biased news outlets, social media campaigns, government propaganda posters, and even celebrity endorsements for political agendas—all of which shape public perception. Engagement with the public or any audience in spreading persuasive communication through participatory propaganda is also common these days.

Psychological operations, popularly known as ‘Psyops,’ are carried out using information and cognitive manipulations to influence the emotions, motives, and objective reasoning of individuals or groups. This may involve the dropping of leaflets carrying specific messages, loudspeaker broadcasts, text messages, phone calls, and even targeted advertisements to influence the human mind. In scientific terms, it is also referred to as ‘Behavioural Economics,’ which has strong potential to impact public perception.

Cyber warfare, as we know, uses digital platforms and technologies to disrupt, destroy, or manipulate information systems and networks. It is conducted through hacking, phishing attacks, data breaches, or denial-of-service attacks. Meanwhile, social engineering in information and cognitive warfare involves manipulating individuals to gain access to information or influence decisions through psychological tactics—often for spreading misinformation with the aim of disrupting security. Phishing, hacking, data breaches, and denial-of-service attacks are some examples of cyber warfare. Social engineering in information and cognitive warfare involves manipulating individuals to gain access to information or influence decisions through psychological tactics, often for spreading misinformation or disrupting security. It is done through phishing, pretexting, baiting, or impersonation.

Currently, gullible netizens are being targeted using networks of compromised devices to spread disinformation, propaganda, or malware through social media. Public opinion as well as behaviour are shaped on any given subject or topic, and it has been observed that, to a large extent, it is possible to succeed in disseminating false, fabricated stories and videos posted on social media. AI (Artificial Intelligence)-generated videos and audio recordings are now commonly used to deceive individuals. Perceptions, beliefs, and behaviours of individuals, groups, or societies are often being manipulated by adopting these methods.

Then there is the phenomenon of ‘priming and nudging,’ which are concepts in psychology and behavioural economics that can impact decision-making at a mass scale and influence individuals through feelings and behaviour. The means normally used include visual cues, images, words or conceptual language, music, or any such stimulus that can influence the thoughts and feelings of an individual or group. This can be aptly understood with an effective example:

Till recently, India viewed Bangladesh as one of its foreign policy successes. But all that changed in August 2024, with a rebellious student-led coup that ended the 15-year-long rule of Sheikh Hasina. This is a big headache for India now. The nasty turn of events—with strong anti-India sentiment among the youth and rising radicalism in Bangladesh—is really worrisome. But how did this happen?

Besides corruption and nepotism, the Hasina government was also blamed for creating such a situation, and for not exactly playing ball with the USA on some geopolitical matters which would have served their purpose. Thus, the game began in 2017. Several foreign organisations were active in Bangladesh, all extensively using ‘priming and nudging’ tools to create such an impact, and ultimately became successful in dislodging the regime. To influence the students’ and others’ behaviour in a predictable way, subtle non-coercive cues were used to ‘nudge’ people towards the desired decision of overthrowing the Hasina government.

Indeed, it is a different dimension—and a dangerous one. The CEO of Netflix once commented that OTT platforms are competing with sleep—and it is 100 per cent true. There is an all-out battle for attention on the web and in the media, especially with the popularity of various OTT platforms. Humans are becoming increasingly addicted. They are sleeping less than the body needs, which adversely affects both body and mind due to sleep deprivation. In such a state, it becomes easy to nudge people towards a particular goal, as they become vulnerable. Thus, such OTT platforms subtly strengthen priming and nudging.

There is an absolute need to adopt countermeasures against cognitive warfare. Media literacy, fact-checking, adequate cybersecurity measures, critical thinking, and building resilience in individuals and societies to withstand cognitive warfare are essential and effective tools.

These measures are required to be put in place at all three levels—individual, organisational, and national—along with international cooperation among like-minded nations, if needed. Public awareness campaigns are also important to combat cognitive warfare.

The writer is a senior Air Force Officer with long experience in Govt of Delhi as the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (Jan 2021-Jan 2024), OSD to LG Delhi (2007-2013), Addl DG of Prasar Bharati and several other key positions in the Govt of India. Views expressed are personal