The Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, Ellen McCarthy discusses how to conceptualize and develop standards and measurements on information quality, how to align AI with accurate and reliable information, and how challenges and potential of leveraging AI can support information quality. Also, be sure to check out and...
info_outline #198 Melissa Graves Frank Emerson and Pat Hendrix on OSINTThe Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, Melissa Graves, Frank Emerson, and Pat Hendrix discuss the history of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), how publicly available information (PAI) is being analyzed by students in the Department of Intelligence and Security Studies at The Citadel, and The Citadel’s which will be...
info_outline #197 Maksym Tereshchenko on How the Russia-Ukraine War Sparked a New Era in Risk Management and Cognitive SecurityThe Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, Maksym Tereshchenko of discusses his firm’s AI platform and how it is being used within the informational dimension of the Russia-Ukraine War. Recording Date: 19 July 2024 Research Question: Maksym Tereshchenko suggests as interested student examine: How can we accurately...
info_outline #196 Dave Troy on Threats to DemocracyThe Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, Dave Troy discusses threats to democracy. The related problems of disinformation, misinformation, and radicalization have been popularly misunderstood as technology or fact-checking problems, but this ignores the mechanism of action, which is the reconfiguration of social capital....
info_outline #195 Michael Zequeira on the Effects of Social Media on Military RecruitingThe Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, US Army Major Michael Zequeira discusses his Army Command and General Staff research entitled: the Effects of Social Media on Military Recruiting. More and more Americans receive information from social media. This work looks at the effects of social media’s rise on U.S. Army...
info_outline #194 Mike Hall on the Moral Imperative of Our TimeThe Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, Dr. Wayne “Mike” Hall discusses his latest capstone book: the Moral Imperative of Our Time-Purposeful Intellectual Growth. According to Mike, America’s intellect is sharply declining; he implores national security leaders to address this problem immediately by: 1) improving...
info_outline #193 Hatteras Hoops on Human Domain SecurityThe Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, Hatteras Hoops discusses business and national security considerations related to Human Domain Security. Current concepts around insider threat, insider risk, insider trust, insider fraud, critical people protection, personnel security and counterintelligence are broadly considered...
info_outline #192 Dr. Josh "Bugsy" Segal on the American Maginot LineThe Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, Dr. Josh “Bugsy” Segal discusses his ongoing concerns about the “American Maginot Line.” He is concerned that the United States is insufficiently and inappropriately funding the cognitive war that is bearing down on us. Moreover, the United States domestic political system...
info_outline #191 Jose Davis on Public Affairs Integration and Leveraging AI for Operations in the Information EnvironmentThe Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, US Air Force Captain Jose Davis discusses his paper, which is entitled: "Leveraging AI for Operations in the Information Environment: 3 Demonstrations in Disinformation, Social Media, and Entropy." The paper focuses on the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the realm of...
info_outline #190 Army Command and General Staff Information Advantage Scholars SymposiumThe Cognitive Crucible
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. During this episode, we learn about the US Army’s Command and General Staff College Information Advantage Scholar Program. Two officers from the 2024 IA Scholar cohort–Army MAJs Vincent Michel and Josh Keller–present their research and also discuss their overall experience. Additionally, Cognitive...
info_outlineThe 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.
During this episode, Dr. Randy Rosin returns to the Cognitive Crucible to discuss the “trippy” topic of reflexive control. Soviet influence practitioners favor an indirect approach. Reflexive control is the process of conveying the basis of decision-making from one person to another.
Research Question: Randy Rosin suggests an interested student examine: How can reflexive processes be applied in the creation of strategies to obtain desirable results in scenarios of either conflict, competition, or cooperation?
Resources:
- Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
- Propaganda Universe: Propaganda has become the dominant form of public discourse in the information age. Propaganda Universe is dedicated to helping citizens, journalists, scholars, and policy-makers understand the nature of propaganda, disinformation, and information warfare in order to identify and resist manipulative communication. Preserving our ability to think independently, both as individuals and as a society, is crucial to being able to decide what is in our own best interests and not those of others.
- Norbert Wiener
- Heinz von Foerster
- Dialectical Materialism
- Digital Forensics Research Lab
- Diane Chotikul, The Soviet Theory of Reflexive Control in Historical and Psychocultural Perspective: A Preliminary Study, July 1986.
- Russian Operations in Georgia: Lessons Identified Versus Lessons Learned by Keir Giles
- Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President: What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know by Kathleen Hall Jamieson
- Structure of Awareness: Symbolic Language Human Reflection by Vladimir A. Lefebvre
Link to full show notes and resources
Guest Bio: Dr. Randy Rosin is a faculty member of the National Intelligence University in Bethesda, Maryland who teaches courses in propaganda, foreign information and cyber strategy, cyber threat intelligence, denial and deception, and leadership. He is a 32-year active-duty Army veteran who has served in combat arms, psychological operations, information operations, as a middle eastern foreign area officer, and in human intelligence operations. Notably serving as the information operations chief in Iraq, at US Central Command, and as the Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché in Yemen. His research interests are on the confluence of technology and manipulative communication with a particular focus on the development of information-based theoretical frameworks.
About: 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, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.