Information Domain: An Argument for Organization

Current bureaucratic "stove piping" and committee-based interagency interactions are inadequate for defending the Information Domain and achieving stated policy directives. A more agile, holistic, and integrated effort is required, including changes to operating organizations and legal authorities to achieve the desired protection while retaining essential liberties. Freedom of speech is vital for individual liberty, the security of which is the reason for government in the United States. The US, and the West in general, are different from autocratic competitors in this effort to preserve and protect individual liberty. Freedom of speech and association, both hallmarks of the internet and the global communications it has enabled, are American ideas. Every individual has a right to present their ideas to other people. This presentation of ideas is the bedrock of all social interaction. The US Government is only allowed to abridge free speech or freedom of expression under very specific circumstances. The DoD risks such abridgment by taking on information warfare as part of its cyberspace mission by curating online content, whether directly or by proxy. Stretching of new permissions under new DoD authorities meant to allow freedom of action and proportional response may make DoD wittingly or unwittingly a censor of Americans. Such action without clear authorities create potential political and legal liabilities for DoD and undermines US Government credibility as its actions in the domain mirror the adversary autocracies with which the US competes.