Cyber Mobilization: A Growing Counterinsurgency Campaign

According to US Army publications, two types of offensive actions are key components of insurgency doctrine armed conflict and mass mobilization. It is clear after more than three years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq that the insurgents use improvised explosive devices IEDs as their main instrument to conduct armed conflict, and that they have learned to mobilize and conduct conflict-related cognitive activities using cyber means. For example, they capitalize on Internet capabilities to plan, target, educate, recruit, and influence sympathizers. If an insurgencys strength is predicated on the support of the local population, then Coalition counterinsurgency efforts must take cybermoblization enabled by computerized devices such as cell phones and the Internet into account. The warning signs of the advent of mobile phone and Internet mobilization were evident long before the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In December 1999, agitators used the Internet to organize resistance to the World Trade Organization WTO meeting in Seattle. Net-recruited protestors converged on Seattle from all directions. They frustrated well designed police control plans by using cell phones to move crowds to unattended areas, or to focus on other advantageous spots. Both television and Internet sites picked up coverage of these successful efforts, all of which encouraged similar demonstrations and championed other causes.