The Cognitive Crucible Information Professionals Association

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 recruiting. The primary research question was “Is the increased reliance on social media for information negatively affecting the U.S. Army’s ability to recruit?” The secondary research questions were “What role do foreign mis, mal, and disinformation play in decreasing the propensity to serve in the Army of the United States population?” and “How do the negative effects of social media on mental health affect the Army’s ability to meet its’ recruiting goal?” The researcher answered these questions through a hermeneutics approach, analyzing existing research and correlating it to the past 10 years of recruiting trends. The researcher supplemented this by conducting open coding of videos on YouTube to assess the narratives portrayed based on various Army-related keywords. Based on this research, the increase in information speed of social media allows foreign adversaries to perpetuate mis, mal, and disinformation at speeds that decrease trust in the U.S. Government and Army. The well-documented negative effects of excessive social media use on mental health are decreasing the qualified youth available faster than any other discriminating factor. 
Recording Date: 20 Jun 2024
Research Question: Mike Zequeira suggests an interested student examine: 
For narrative/misinformation academic researchers, does the TikTok algorithm push content harmful to, or counter to, a positive US military outlook? For military researchers, how can Social Media feeds be integrated into the targeting cycle to enable real time/near real time targeting? Resources
Active Measures: The Secret History of  Disinformation and Political Warfare by Thomas Rid LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by Peter Singer My Share of the Task: A Memoir by Stanley McCrystal Link to full show notes and resources
Guest Bio: 
Major Michael (Mike) Zequeira was born and raised in the Fort Lauderdale, FL area. He commissioned through the Officer Candidate School at Fort Moore in 2013 as a branch-detailed Military Intelligence Officer. MAJ Zequeira served as a Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer and Battalion Logistics Officer in 1-68AR, in the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division in Ft. Carson, Colorado. Post graduation from the Military Intelligence Captain’s career course, he served as Brigade Assistant Intelligence Officer at 2nd IBCT, 10th Mountain Infantry Division, 2-14 Infantry Battalion Intelligence Officer, and Military Intelligence Company Commander for the 41st Brigade Engineer Battalion at Fort Drum, New York. He also served as the Headquarters, Headquarters Company Commander, and as an Operational Test Officer at the Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Testing Directorate at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. MAJ Zequeira is currently transitioning to his next assignment in the Division Intelligence section of 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell KY.
MAJ Zequeira’s military education includes the North Georgia University/MCOE Mandarin Language Course, Airborne Course, Military Intelligence Officer Captains Career Course, Digital Intelligence Systems Master Gunners Course, Army Basic Space Cadre I & II, the CENTCOM Foreign Disclosure Officer Course, and the Information Advantage Scholars Program at the Resident Command and General Staff Officer Course at Fort Leavenworth, KS.
His civilian education includes a Bach

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 individual learning, 2) promoting organizational learning, and 3) encouraging intellectual mentoring. Satisfying these callings is the moral imperative. Mike also discusses other important themes such as: will, incorporating information and cognition as warfighting domains, how to think in today's fight, non-linearity and complex systems, anticipation compared to prediction, and the importance of initial conditions, and unity of effort.
Research Question: Mike Hall suggests interested students examine: 
How does this fit into DOTMLPF? How do we get politicians to understand Clausewitz? Recording Date: 21 June 2024
Resources:
Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #47 Yaneer Bar-Yam on Complex Systems and the War on Ideals #72 Noah Komnick on Cybernetics and the Age of Complexity Mike Hall’s website Chinese Military Targeting Future Wars And Fighting The Five Cognitive Battles The Moral Imperative of Our Time-Purposeful Intellectual Growth: Developing and Using the Human Mind To Outthink America's Enemies and To Stay Abreast of Changing Technologies by Ed D Wayne Michael Hall Whispers from the Arrow of Time: Essays from an Evolving Mind on How to Think about National Security in the Information Age by Wayne Michael Hall Stray Voltage: War in the Information Age by Wayne Michael Hall Intelligence Analysis: How to Think in Complex Environments by Wayne Michael Hall and Gary Citrenbaum The Power of Will in International Conflict: How to Think Critically in Complex Environments by Wayne Michael Hall and Patrick M. Hughes Link to full show notes and resources
Guest Bio: 
Wayne Michael “Mike” Hall, Brigadier General, US Army (Retired), is a career U.S. Army intelligence officer with over 50 years of experience in intelligence operations. In the Army, Brigadier General Hall served in four infantry divisions: 2d, 1 st , 4 th , and 82d. He commanded intelligence units at the company (337 th ASA Company), battalion (313 th MI Bn, 82d Airborne Division), and brigade (501 st MI Brigade in the Republic of Korea). BG Hall was an infantry battalion S-2 in the 1 st Infantry Division, an infantry brigade S-2 while in Korea in the 2d Infantry Division, and an infantry brigade S-2 in the 1 st Infantry Division. He was the G-2 of the 82d Airborne Division, and as a general officer, the J-2 US Forces Korea. After retiring from the Army in 1999, he worked with military and private corporations providing consulting services in intelligence-related matters for more than 12 years. He also created a two-week intensive seminar for intelligence analysts and collections specialists, centering on his book Intelligence Analysis: How to Think in Complex Environments. Brigadier General Hall led the strenuous two-week seminars from 2008-2014 and helped ~1250 intelligence analysts and collection people learn “how to think” in complex environments. Brigadier General Hall has written six books: Stray Voltage War in the Information Age (2003); Intelligence Analysis How to Think in Complex Environments(2009); Intelligence Collection How to Plan and Execute Intelligence Collection in Complex Environments (2012); The Power of Will in International Conflict (2018); Whispers From the Arrow of Time (2023); and The Moral Imperative of Our Time—Purposeful Intellectual Growth. Brigadier General Hall holds a BS from the University of Nebraska

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 Human Domain Security. Evolved from over a millennia of documented models, practice, and theory, the terms insider threat and insider risk often have negative connotations around intention, despite the definitions being clearly inclusive of both intentional and unintentional insiders. Human Domain Security seeks to disarm and expand its value to more sensitive parts of the world, and through a more positive application.
Recording Date: 6 June 2024
Research Questions: Hatteras Hoops suggests interested students examine:
What empirical evidence exists across administrative, physical, and technical controls that proves changes in behavior can serve as retrospective indicators of human risk? Based on history and technical advancements, what specific emerging human-centric disruptions should we expect in the next 10 years? How will it affect trust across teams and organizations? These are important topics because I don’t think we’ve fully thought through the extent of its impact from society to person Resources:
Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned
#123 Jonathan Roginski on Insider Threats Other resources:
Quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago: “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained” Human-Domain Security Evolution by Hatteras Hoops Cyber Crime: Insider Fraud & Extortion — The Sharp Case by Hatteras Hoops Global Challenges in Securing the Human-Domain, Part I:  by Hatteras Hoops MITRE Insider Threat TTP Knowledge Base Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman and Greg Mckeown Hatteras Hoops Medium writings Hatteras Hoops LinkedIn Link to full show notes and resources
Guest Bio: Hatteras Hoops is a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton supporting the Commercial vertical in the European market based out of the Hague, Netherlands. He has over twenty years’ experience spanning defense, national security, and commercial cybersecurity missions. His current focus transcends strategic consulting, governance, and human-centric security solutions. He holds a Master of Engineering degree in Cybersecurity from the George Washington University.
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 communications@information-professionals.org.
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.

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 hampers progress. Our gallop across the information landscape includes political hot button topics, sea stories, open source intelligence, and also some bright spots.
Recording Date: 29 May 2024
Resources:
Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #49 Matt Armstrong on the Smith-Mundt Act #187 Randy Rosin on Reflexive Control #129 Eliot Jardines on Open Source Intelligence Deft9 Solutions Colour Revolution EU vs Disinformation Disinformation Governance Board Disinfo 2024 Conference Unrestricted Warfare: China's Master Plan to Destroy America by Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui Has China Won?: The Chinese Challenge to American Primacy by Kishore Mahbubani Disinformation: The Nature of Facts and Lies in the Post-Truth Era by Donald A. Barclay Link to full show notes and resources
Guest Bio: 
Dr. Joshua “Bugsy” Segal is the Co-Founder & Vice President for Strategy and Innovation at Deft9 Solutions. A veteran of over 30 years in national security policy, strategy and operations, and intelligence, both military and civilian, Dr. Segal is an internationally recognized expert in arms control, countering foreign malign influence, and counter-WMD. Dr. Segal spent over a decade as a member of U.S. multilateral arms control delegations in Geneva, Vienna, and The Hague, including the negotiations to finalize the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention and establish the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. After leaving the federal government and then retiring from the military, Dr. Segal serves as an advisor to senior DoD leaders on operations in the information environment and teaches OSINT tradecraft.
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 communications@information-professionals.org.
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.

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 Operations in the Information Environment (OIE), particularly for the Air Force. The paper presents three case studies demonstrating how AI can positively impact OIE and advocates for direct AI research in this area. Additionally, he’ll recap an information campaign that US Air Forces in Europe conducted to assure Baltic NATO Allies, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Recording Date: 24 April 2024
Research Questions: Jose Davis suggests as interested student examine: 
What other common metrics can be developed or researched for assessing the Information Environment, tailor-made for the national security needs and useful for IO and PA operators? What are the practical outcomes in the Information Environment (a complex system) when entropy is influenced, pushed either higher or lower? e.g. Hypothetically, when high entropy is present, humans deploy simplifying heuristics, so this should help improve Key Leader Engagements’ (KLE) timing and improve KLE dossiers. Or with PA/IO, high entropy hypothetically may demand a simplified messaging campaign. In what other ways can AI be leveraged to combat nefarious AI use for disinformation? The ideas of watermarking or safeguarding content from manipulation from nefarious Generative AI are a form of  immunization, advancing Inoculation Theory as a whole. What other preventative measures along the lines of immunization can be taken to combat disinformation? Resources:
Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #46 Pat Ryder on Public Affairs and Strategic Communications #174 Kara Masick on Assessment Insights from Program Evaluation #183 Julie Janson on Air Force IO Talent and Strategy Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence Universal adversarial perturbations by Seyed-Mohsen Moosavi-Dezfooli, Alhussein Fawzi, Omar Fawzi, and Pascal Frossard Pre-trained Adversarial Perturbations by Yuanhao Ban, Yinpeng Dong Automating OIE with Large Language Models by Cpt Alexander Sferrella, Cpt Joseph Conger, and Maj Kara Masick Claude Shannon AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future by former Google technologist Kai-Fu Lee and science fiction writer Chen Qiufan. I’m a huge advocate of using story to educate. For those new to AI or wanting to understand AI’s societal impact, this is my go-to book. Written in a series of fictional short stories with in-depth essay analysis at the end of each, the book teaches AI while making it entertaining. A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman. I think every Information Warfare professional should know who Claude Shannon is and read his “magna carta” of the Information Age, The  Mathematical Theory of Communication.  My intellectual hero, this exceptional biography brings the man to life — a polymath, a tinkerer, an innovator. “Attention is all You Need” by Ashish Vaswani et al. This is the seminal paper advancing the Transformer architecture which made Generative AI like ChatGPT possible. Liken this paper to Einstein’s book on Relativity or Newton’s Principia. Information Theory: Structural Models for Qualitative Data by Klaus Krippendorff Link to full show notes and resources
Guest Bio: 
Jose is a Public Affairs Officer for Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa at Ramstein

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 Crucible listeners are invited to the Command and General Staff College Information Advantage Symposium on 22 May 2024.
Recorded on: May 2, 2024
Research Questions: 
MAJ Michel suggests as interested student examine:  What are the necessary steps a unit must take to isolate a prevalent actor within the narrative space? Are there additional factors that influence the narrative space and consolidation of gains? MAJ Keller suggests as interested student examine:  Primary Research Question: How can Collateral Damage Estimation (CDE) adapt to accommodate nonlethal effects against satellite communication architecture? Secondary Research Question: How can CJCSI 3370.01 Target Development Standards accommodate entity-level target development for satellite communication architecture on orbit? What are the resulting impacts to intelligence and targeting professionals? Resources:
Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #166 John Agnello on Information Advantage YouTube Channel: Information Advantage Scholars USArmyCGSC Command and General Staff College Information Advantage Symposium – May 22 | Command and General Staff College Foundation, Inc. (cgscfoundation.org) Army Space Vision Supporting Multi-domain Operations TE Lawrence Army Doctrine Publication 3-13, Information Advantage Dangerous Narratives: Warfare, Strategy, Stagecraft by Maan, Clark, Steed, Drohan, Nesic, Holshek, Straub, Ronfeldt, and Arquilla The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why by Richard E. Nisbett The Wires of War: Technology and the Global Struggle for Power by Jacob Helberg The Battle Beyond: Fighting and Winning the Coming War in Space by Paul Szymanski and Jerry Drew Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library (CARL) Digital Library Link to full show notes and resources
Guest Bios:
Guest #1: Vincent Michel, U.S. Army
Information Operations,  Military Intelligence, Armor

Thesis: The Other Side to the Story: Consolidation of Gains and the Narrative Space

Education:
2018, M.A. Criminal Justice, American Military University
2013, B.A. Criminology, University of New Mexico
Past Assignments:
Mission Command IO Project Officer, MXCDID, Futures Concept Center, AFC, Ft. Leavenworth, KS
Recruiting Company Commander, Evansville, IN

Future Assignment: IO Team Leader, 11th Cyber BN
Guest #2: Joshua Keller, U.S. Army
Space Operations, Field Artillery

Thesis:
ADAPTING TARGETING POLICY FOR NONLETHAL EFFECTS ON SATELLITE COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTURE
Education:
2012, M.A. Quantitative and Psychological Foundations, University of Iowa
2010, B.A. Psychology, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Past Assignments:
Deputy OIC, SPCT #3, 1st Space BN, Ft Carson, CO
Assistant Ops Officer, 1st Space BDE, Ft Carson, CO

Future Assignment: 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) Space Operations Officer, Ft Liberty, NC
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 communications@inform