How Does CCP Apply Strategic Deception in Cognitive War Against the US?
by | Jun 28, 2023 | Global, Politics With Edward Haugland on “The Voice of Dr. Yan”
When I was reading the most surprising news,” the Wagner group’s coup against Putin,” last week, I realized how difficult for me to finger out the real-time situation in Russia and anticipate what would happen in the next step. Like most Americans, my understanding of the coup is mainly based on second-hand information in English online, which has been intermixed with mistranslation, misinformation, and propaganda. Similarly, it’s also very challenging for Americans to interpret what is happening in China and make sound judgments in the face of the CCP’s strategic deception and covert action.
As discussed with my guest of this episode, the senior advisor of US intelligence agencies Edward Haugland, compared to the Soviet Union in the cold war, Communist China has been evolving in the tactics and operations against the US since the collapse of the USSR. In the pre-information age, USSR’s infiltration into the US was adept and in-depth at multi-levels. Nowadays, CCP’s infiltration in the post-information age is more massive and comprehensive.
For example, CCP’s infiltration into academia is overwhelming. Since the US opened the door to Chinese students and researchers in the 1980s, over 300 thousand China national scholarship awardees have been to the US to study, and many of them are renowned experts in the US now. However, once necessary, they would work for or be forced to assist CCP as academic espionages or propagandists (https://www.americaoutloud.com/ccp-manipulation-of-overseas-chinese-students-using-the-national-scholarship/).
CCP’s campaign has strategically taken root in almost every corner of the US and tactically influence and manipulate its targets, from politicians, and celebrities, to the public. With its advantages of manpower and utilization of information, CCP’s unrestricted war strategies have been working well in hurting the US.
On June 19, Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted that he failed to revive the military hotline between CCP and the US after his visit to China. On the one hand, it sends significant signals to the world that Xi Jinping doesn’t want to de-escalate the situation. As a dictator, he dislikes direct communication between his military staff and his enemy. On the other hand, as Edward said in this episode, Xi’s rejection makes the US more worried about the uncertainty of the kinetic war over Taiwan while ignoring CCP’s invisible cognitive war in the mainland US.
Previously, we have talked about Chinese military intelligence expert senior colonel Gao Jin-Hu and his work (https://www.americaoutloud.com/the-process-of-cognitive-intervention-by-ccp-against-americans/). According to another internal document titled “The function of national security intelligence in shaping national security situation – from the perspective of strategic deception and covert action” by Gao in the Journal of Public Security Science in 2020, strategic deception and covert action are the two essential operations in the cognitive war (https://www.americaoutloud.com/chinas-cognitive-war-against-america-strategic-deception-to-unrestricted-warfare/).
Here is what I summarized based on the first 1/3 of the article, which is the content we focus on in this episode. We will continue the discussion on that article in future broadcasts.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu emphasizes that strategic deception can significantly change the situation, which extends the decisive effects of intelligence in the war. It is the way to apply intelligence to operations. So Gao believes that strategic deception is the core strategic method to reach the goals, which can reduce the loss of the deceivers and achieve tactical surprise. Strategic deception can significantly change history. During the deception, intelligence and counterintelligence play central roles. Intelligence is the prerequisite to making deceptive plans, the key to evaluating the deception, and the only way to reveal the deception.
The main methods of strategic deception include:
1. To seize the right to information, interfere with the enemy’s cognition and induce them to make the wrong decision.
Chairman Mao said that “blocking the eyes and ears of the enemies as much as possible makes them blind and deaf. While confusing their leaders makes them crazy. It’s helpful to win the war.” Mao also said that taking advantage of the People’s War to block information and cheat the enemies, can efficiently cause them to misjudge and miscalculate in their actions, then lose dominance and initiative.
2. To hide one’s real purposes and achieve tactical surprise.
According to The Art of War, first of all, it is to hide the real purposes. Then spreading the misinformation lures the enemy. Both released and concealed information can be weaponized against the enemy.
By analyzing such documents, it could explain CCP’s strategic theory derived from Chinese culture, improve the comprehension of information from China, and enhance the strength of the counterintelligence of the US.
Edward Haugland is a retired federal Senior Executive and US Air Force veteran. His over four decades of service include serving as a senior leader in the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, and State. He’s served as the senior advisor to several IC agency heads, the Assistant Inspector General for Inspections for the Intelligence Community, the Chairman of CIA’s strategic planning, a Deputy team lead for the INF On-site nuclear arms inspections in the former Soviet Union, and as award-winning CIA intelligence analyst. He is currently an independent consultant focusing on cognitive warfare. He is also a regular host on The National Security Hour on the American Out Loud Talk Radio Network.
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