Army Special Operations in Information Advantage

The United States is shifting focus towards strategic competition with China and Russia. In competition, the US must look for ways to gain advantages by prioritizing the gaining of and exploiting advantages in the information environment. China and Russia have prioritized and shown a willingness to incorporate actions that lead to an information advantage in recent operations. Yet, for all the talk, the US is lagging in the competition for an information advantage. This study finds that China and Russia value creating an information advantage but go about it in completely different manners. China seeks to influence through diplomatic and economic means to build a coalition to support its global endeavors, while Russia thrives in chaos and seeks to stoke it and exploit it to its advantage. This thesis examines how the US can narrow this information advantage gap using Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) and this study provides a few recommendations on how to leverage these uniquely trained forces that can contribute to the US gaining an advantage in a strategic competition against China and Russia.