Defense Policy Board to discuss classified military 'information operations'

The Defense Policy Board is scheduled to meet in closed session March 7-8 to hold classified discussions on Pentagon "information operations."

Information operations are used by the U.S. military to “influence, disrupt, corrupt or usurp the decision making of adversaries and potential adversaries while protecting our own,” according to the Government Accountability Office.

Meanwhile, U.S. adversaries use information operations for the same purposes, with Russia’s targeting of U.S. elections being a high-profile example.

The Defense Policy Board will “receive classified briefings and hold classified discussions on how well DOD information operations are understood, leveraged, integrated and synchronized into broader interagency and national level influence activities and strategic communications,” according to a Federal Register notice.

Defense officials slated to brief the committee include Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict Christopher Maier and Rear Adm. Ronald Foy, the Joint Staff's deputy director for Global Operations, J-39, J-3.

Additionally, the committee will be briefed by John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, Cara Abercrombie, deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for defense policy and arms control, and Jonathan Finer, principal deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs.

The board will also be briefed by acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Elizabeth Allen, and James Rubin, the special envoy and Coordinator at the State Department’s Global Engagement Center.