Army trains keyboard warriors for digital war
Soldiers to be deployed on social media battlefield in face of Russian cyber threat
THE ARMY is to engage in social media warfare, one of its most senior generals has announced, as he launched a new division of the military dedicated to fighting cyber threats.
Lieutenant General Ivan Jones, the Commander of the Field Army, said the division would operate “above and below the threshold of conventional conflict” to counter malign Russian activity and threats from digitally sophisticated terror groups such as Isil.
Titled 6 Division (6 Div), it will seek to influence the behaviour of adversaries by specialising in “information warfare”. It is expected to launch social media offensives as well as react to “fake news” attacks on Britain.
The new division will be the Army’s first dedicated information warfare formation, with troops trained in cyber capabilities and more traditional skills such as covert surveillance or advanced weaponry.
Specialists will be recruited from other Army units, with a small number from the Navy and Royal Air Force, mixing regular service personnel and reservists. Despite the desk-bound nature of their jobs, all recruits will have to pass the normal fitness tests.
“We need to develop our asymmetric edge and bring focus to the orchestration of intelligence, information operations, cyber, electronic warfare and unconventional warfare,” Lt Gen Jones said. “The character of warfare continues to change as the boundaries between conventional and unconventional warfare become increasingly blurred. The Army must remain adaptable and evolve as a fighting force.” Western security and military organisations have been slow to respond to the deployment by Russia of misinformation and cyber attacks to spread confusion and cover up malign activity.
Russian disinformation was used recently against a British Army exercise in Croatia, with fictitious stories distributed online and through social media about unprofessional behaviour from soldiers in 16 Air Assault Brigade.
Equally difficult to counter has been Isil’s increasingly sophisticated use of social media. In 2014 it used journalists, photographers and video editors in Iraq to produce digital footage with Hollywood-style, state-of-the-art technology to spread disinformation.
US and British forces and intelligence agencies such as GCHQ were eventually able to use social media warfare to undermine Isil in northern Iraq and Syria and made a significant contribution to its eventual defeat by, among other things, hindering recruitment efforts by redirecting social media interest to sites debunking its ideology.
The cyber division will build on the success of such operations and develop ways to counter adversaries in the “grey zone”, the term given to actions short of what is traditionally thought of as acts of war but which are none the less harmful to British interests.
Lt Gen Jones, a former SAS commander, said: “The world is changing at a remarkable pace and is only going to get faster and more complex. State and non-state actors are continually seeking to gain advantage in the grey zone that exists below the threshold of conventional conflict. We must create a campaign mindset – a move from planning periodic activity to managing
constant operations. Our posture must move from reactive to proactive; our approach from passive to assertive.”
In a flag-raising ceremony today in Upavon, Wilts, the Army’s Force Troops Command, an amalgam of logistic and intelligence units, will be restructured to form 6 Div. The head of Force Troops Command, Major General James Bowder, will be in charge.
Consisting of the 1st and 11th Signal Brigades, 77 Information Operation Brigade, 1st Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade and the Specialised Infantry Group, 6 Div will be capable of delivering offensive cyber attacks as well as deploying soldiers to train and mentor Allied military forces in both cyber techniques and traditional infantry skills.
To attract “tech-savvy” cyber and social media specialists, The Daily Telegraph understands the Army is looking to change the way soldiers’ careers are managed. Posting cycles may be adjusted to allow personnel to continue to serve in specialised roles beyond the usual two or three-year cycle, reflecting the desire from recruits for more flexible careers than their forebears.
Young recruits also want to be able to change units and even move from one service to another. Better use of reservists is also thought to be under consideration. And rather than having specialists in social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram from the ranks, service chiefs are thought to be considering employing talent from the civilian workforce. Pay, contracts and fitness standards will need to be worked out for attached civilians.
Talent may also be drawn from recent service leavers, although The Telegraph understands details such as revised pension entitlements and tax liabilities are yet to be fully explored.