Guest Reyes Cole joins host Dave Brown to discuss the subject of Network Engagement, a growing area of doctrinal importance for various types of operational analysis, and one that underpins nearly every operational mission set, as well as every one of the currently identified Irregular Warfare activities.

Articles:

• Outmatched - Shortfalls in Countering Threat Networks, D. Doran, NDU Press, JFQ 89, 2nd Quarter 2018
• Countering Threat Networks to Deter, Compete, and Win - Competition Below Armed Conflict with Revisionist Powers, V. Oxford, NDU Press, JFQ 95, 4th Quarter 2019
• How NATO Can Support Countering Threat Networks, J. Gardner, Counter-IED Report, Autumn/Winter 2013
• Joint Publication 3-25 Countering Threat Networks
• The Myths of Traditional Warfare: How Our Peer and Near-Peer Adversaries Plan to Fight Using Irregular Warfare, R. Cole, Small Wars Journal, 28 Mar 2019

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Guest:

Reyes Cole Serves as the Irregular Warfare and Competition capability developer and analyst for HQ USMC, within the Ground Combat Element Division, and the Capability Development Directorate (CDD). Mr. Cole has served with the USMC for over a decade as the lead for institutionalizing Irregular Warfare requirements into Marine Corps missions and requirements. Reyes retired in 2012 from the US Army as a LTC after 26 years of service in infantry and Special Forces units. His military service focused on counternarcotics missions at home and abroad, and his background also includes experience in civil affairs, security cooperation, security force assistance, network engagement, countering transnational organized crime, counterinsurgency, stabilization activities, and counter threat finance.

Guests Dr. Hany Farid and Ted Schlein join host Col. Dave Brown and co-host Dr. Tim Schultz to discuss deepfake technology and the challenge of the proliferation of fake news and disinformation. One of Aesop’s fables was titled Prometheus and Dolus, or sometimes alternatively titled, On Truth and Falsehood. In the fable, Prometheus can bring to life the figures he creates, and so he makes a sculpture of Truth (Veritas). When he is called away by Zeus, he leaves his workshop in the hands of his apprentice Dolus (the Greek God of Deception). While he is gone, Dolus fashions a replica of Prometheus's Truth, but runs out of clay, so his statue has no feet. When Prometheus returns, he marvels at the flawless likeness and fires both sculptures in the oven. When both figures come to life, Prometheus' Veritas (Truth) walks gracefully forward, while Dolus’ figure remains still - unable to walk. Ever after, Dolus' figure was called Mendacity (Falsehood). This is a fitting description of our topic which concerns the ever-growing area of deepfake digital media, its potential for tremendous negative consequences for domestic and international cybersecurity, its larger potential for societal disruption, and recommendations for how best to address it.

Articles:

• California Enacts New Laws to Combat AI-Generated Deceptive Election Content, S. Levi, T. Rosen et al, Skadden, 27 Sep 2024
• California Passes Election ‘Deepfake’ Laws, Forcing Social Media Companies to Take Action, NYT, 17 Sep 2024
• Deepfakes Are Evolving. This Company Wants to Catch Them All, W. Knight, Wired, 27 Jun 2024
• Hany Farid: Creating, Weaponizing, and Detecting Deep Fakes, UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, 3 May 2023 (video)
• A Forensics Expert on Princess Kate’s Photo—and How Credentialing Tools Can Help Build Trust in a World of Increasing Uncertainty, H. Farid, TIME, 12 Mar 2024
• AI is destabilizing ‘the concept of truth itself’ in 2024 election, P. Verma & G. De Vynck, Washington Post, 22 Jan 2024
• Hany Farid: To limit disinformation, we must regulate internet platforms, E. Lempinen, UC Berkeley News, 21 Nov, 2023
• Podcast: Hany Farid on deep fakes, doctored photos, and disinformation, H. Farid, Q. Jurecic & E. Douek, Brookings, 24 Jul 2020 (Podcast)
• Creating,Using, Misusing, and Detecting Deep Fakes, Farid, H. (2022). Creating, Using, Misusing, and Detecting Deep Fakes. Journal of Online Trust and Safety, 1(4). https://doi.org/10.54501/jots.v1i4.56
• CV:

Professor Jacob Ware joins host Col. Dave Brown and Dr. Timothy Hoyt to discuss both current manifestations of and potential future episodes of election violence in this presidential election cycle. Quoting from one of Professor Ware's recent articles, "counterterrorism scholars and analysts have predicted for [some time] that the 2024 presidential election would provide a particularly volatile flashpoint for election violence. The near-assassination of Trump demonstrates the accuracy of these concerns—but they are only part of the story."

The conversation ranges from how political rhetoric framed in existential terms drives these outcomes, the staggering percentages of the U.S. polity that feel violence might be necessary to fix U.S. political problems, and identifies potential target orientations before, during, and after the election. This timely discussion focuses on the growth and significance of both realized and potential political violence in our country as we move into this important election season, and beyond.

Articles/Reference:

• Election Violence Is Already in Full Swing, J. Ware, Lawfare, 22 Sep 2024
• Opinion: Trump assassination attempts are just the beginning. Imagine what is coming after the election, J. Ware & C. Clarke, L.A. Times, 17 Sep 2024
• How Bad Will Political Violence in the U.S. Get? B. Hoffman & J. War, Foreign Policy, 28 Jun 2024
• Preventing U.S. Election Violence in 2024, J. Ware, CFR, 17 April 2024
• Political Violence Becomes America's New Norm - But is Still Shocking, A. Zurcher, BBC, 15 Sep 2024
• 2 Virginia Guardsmen Are Running a Rural Anti-Government Militia, S. Beynon, Military.com, 5 Sep 2024
• Could Civil War Erupt in America?, R. Agrawal, Foreign Policy, 29 Aug 2024 (video)
• Iran Hack Illuminates Long-Standing Trends—and Raises New Challenges, R. DiResta, Lawfare, 26 Aug 2024
• Two Ex-Marines Sentenced for Terror Plot to Attack Power Grid, N. Slayton, Task & Purpose, 27 Jul 2024