#28 Jeremy Mushtare and Austin Branch on PSYOP, Manpower, and IO Initiatives

This is a very special dual release episode of the Cognitive Crucible. Our friends over at the PSYWAR podcast are also releasing this via their channel. During this episode, IPA founding member, Austin Branch, is joined by COL Jeremy Mushtare, who commands the US Army’s 8th Psychological Operations Group. Jeremy discusses PSYOP manpower matters and then Austin contrasts roles and responsibilities between PSYOP soldiers and FA30s who tend to be more on the staff integration side of information operations. Then, the discussion turns to cognitive security partnerships, competition below the level of armed conflict, and initiatives. See this link for full show notes and resources.

About the PSYWAR Podcast: Cognitive Crucible listeners can follow this link and check out the PSYWAR podcast. The PSYWAR podcast demystifies psychological operations, informs soldiers about how they can join the PSYOP regiment, discusses the future of Information Warfare, and sprinkles in some cool war stories.

Bios:

Colonel Jeremy Mushtare is the Commanding Officer of the US Army’s 8th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne). During his Army career, Jeremy has held numerous command and staff positions. His last assignment was at the Pentagon as Director for Information Operations in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC).

Mr. Austin Branch is an Information Operations pioneer, practitioner and leader. He holds the distinction of being the Army’s very first FA30 Information Operations officer when that career field was just forming in the 1980s. While in uniform, he served at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. Since retiring from the Army, Mr. Branch served in several senior executive civilian roles within the Department of Defense which focused on information operations, cyber, and counter-terrorism. Austin is also one of the founding members of the Information Professionals Association.

IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell on LinkedIn.