Following the announcement of the Ocus with the United States and Australia, the United Kingdom intensifies its strategic cooperation with Washington in the cyber sector for IT operations in the Indo-Pacific. rand corp case

The UK’s Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) announced on 5 November the award of a “integrated multichannel methods of impact” contract to US firm RAND Corp. to adjust its operations to better meet its latest strategic projects. UK’s wish was confirmed. At least not in the Indo-Pacific.

The DSTL specifies that Rand Corp should consider all influence campaigns undertaken by the UK Government, not just the Ministry of Defence, and the priority ones of impact highlighted in the latest Integrated Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy Review presented to Parliament. areas to be addressed. The review by the Prime Minister in March highlights a shift in focus towards the Indo-Pacific, confirmed by the announcement on 15 September of the trilateral AUKUS agreement between Australia, the UK and the US.

Rand was asked to determine how a single impact campaign could best express the domain of action, both online and offline, and develop tools to measure the impact of these campaigns. James Black, who has coordinated RAND’s defense research since 2015 and served briefly as a parliamentary assistant, is to oversee the PSYOP contract. Black contributed to a number of reports compiled for the UK Department of Defense and DSTL, the European Defense Agency, NATO, and the US and Australian Defense Ministries, many of which covered IT issues.

DSTL’s interim CEO Doug Umbers launched his own company DMKET in 2014, through which he worked for submarine cable supplier Xtera and PA Consulting Group.

Currently, UK psychological impact campaigns are currently divided into two types. On the one hand, some are managed by the Ministry of Defence, not least by Young but by the already famous 77th Brigade commanded by Brigadier Alexander Turner.

Although specializing in online influence operations used to support British overseas operations, the brigade has been deployed for other purposes, such as helping combat the spread of disinformation related to COVID-19 in the UK. Additionally, many units of the British Army have chosen to enhance their capabilities by acquiring dedicated digital platforms to monitor their impact operations. The Royal Navy – under the command of Tony Radakin, one of the masterminds behind AUKUS – turned to Geolect, while Accenture developed a Joint Forces platform for this purpose.

On the other hand, the Secret Intelligence Services (MI6) and GCHQ run their own influence campaigns under the supervision of the FCDO. They sometimes receive outside support from private vendors, such as former MI6 officer Richard Barrett’s The Global Strategy Network (IO, 03/31/21) and Innovation and Insight FZE, a former head of crisis communications for the Paul Tilly Ministry. is owned by. Of defense

For example, such operations include discreet support for media opposing the particular regime or opposition groups, such as some Syrian factions that the UK supported in 2011 at the outbreak of the Syrian conflict.

There will probably be talk of synergy between the FCDO and the Ministry of Defense once the report is published, but it is equally possible that there will be some pushback, mainly FCDO and MI6, eager to defend their privileges in this regard. Huh. request.

However, the creation of the National Cyber ​​Force in April 2020 marked the first step towards some integration, bringing military personnel along with intelligence officers MI6 and GCHQ for the first time, to jointly carry out offensive cyber operations. Information wars are involved.