Capability Assessment for StratCom: Using the New Risk Perspective to Inform the Development of Effective Response Capability Assessments for Countering Information Influence Operations
Capability Assessment for StratCom: Using the New Risk Perspective to Inform the Development of Effective Response Capability Assessments for Countering Information Influence Operations

Author(s): Hanna Lindbom
Subject(s): Media studies, Security and defense, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence
Keywords: StratCom; information influence operations; Counter-measures; Capability Assessment; Response capability;
Summary/Abstract: There are no established models for assessing an organisation’s capability to respond to information influence operations (IIOs). While great efforts have been made to improve our knowledge and understanding of IIOs and how to counter them, and measures have been taken to strengthen democratic processes and to decrease societal vulnerabilities, few efforts have been made to measure the impact of IIOs or to assess the efficacy of the countermeasures currently in place—the response capability—to mitigate those consequences. When facing a potential threat, we don’t want to just sit and wait for something bad to happen, experience the impact, and only then consider how best to respond. It is much better to be proactive and seek to develop a response capability that can prevent losses or effectively mitigate the negative impact of an adverse event when it occurs. To assess whether our response capability is sufficient we must be able to 1) clearly identify the critical assets we wish to protect and 2) accurately describe the response we have in place for when those assets are threatened.

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