301. Today’s Top National Security Threat? You’re Looking at It
- Author:
- Karl Stoltz
- Publication Date:
- 05-2025
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- American Diplomacy
- Institution:
- American Diplomacy
- Abstract:
- You are probably reading this article on your mobile phone or your laptop, or maybe your office or home PC. In fact, that is probably how you get most of your information today, not on pieces of paper delivered to your door or in your mail, or even via AM or FM radio or on network television. And that change in how we receive information is increasingly true all around the world. That convenient all-purpose device you’re staring at also allows our adversaries to attack us from within. It has become one of the greatest threats to our long-term national security. Over the past decade, adversaries like Russia, China, and Iran have mastered the art of burrowing into our consciences surreptitiously, planting falsehoods, disrupting elections, and undermining the fundamental institutions that safeguard democracy. These hybrid attacks were once all labeled “disinformation.” Today, they are more precisely defined as Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). FIMI affects us like Rohypnol and other date rape drugs: at first, we are often not aware that we are ingesting it. We are addicted to our favorite social media sites, so we refuse to believe that our phones and PCs could be used against us. But information manipulators are master bartenders, able to mix a twist of truth into heavily distilled fictions. They mimic reputable sites in such a way that many consume these distortions without realizing they are swallowing them. And, like alcohol, manipulated information amplifies our emotions. It turns minor political differences into bitter arguments, it undermines confidence in those we should trust, and it destroys longstanding relationships.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, National Security, Internet, and Information Manipulation
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus