The Cognitive Coup de Main of America

 I write these articles to sound the warning to our national security leaders. We are in the midst of a major war, taking place both domestically and globally. It is a Cognitive War for which our leaders remain unaware, unprepared, and unarmed. I hope you will read and pass this onto others, members of Congress, or members of our national security apparatus and this Administration. My warning remains unanswered!

Unless we adjust our future to account for the paradigm shifts that have occurred under our feet, our nation and its intelligence operations will once again awaken too late, to a different reality, which is likely to end badly with significant and long-term impacts to our nation’s security and place as world leader.

I project such a negative and reactive outcome to occur either because we lost the cognitive war totally, our adversaries succeed undermining our institutions and democratic foundation to such an extent they are no longer viable, or, because our efforts to counter in the cognitive domain came too late.

If we fail to act in the cognitive domain, we will likely end up in a major kinetic conflict resulting in devastating outcomes, in physical and human toll – from which recovery is questionable.

Edward L. Haugland, 27 Feb 2019

ARTICLE FOLLOWS:

The Cognitive Coup de Main of America

Piecing together what seemingly are abstract or non-related events is critical to delivering good intelligence. That did not happen in December 1941 (Pear Harbor), September 2001 (9-11), nor December 2019 (China Flu). The trend in these massive intelligence failures has moved from solely kinetic to cognitive. Are we applying that reality to avoid another failure?

A partial answer is found in the recent strategic view of our Intelligence Community. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s Annual Threat Assessment of 2026 assesses that because “…we maintain a powerful and capable military, and a secure nuclear deterrent, that help keep us safe at home…and also maintain a favorable geographic position, with vast oceans separating us from other great power…” make some the threats to our homeland “…less acute.”

Was the China Flu in our homeland less acute given a million murdered Americans? What about the 400,000 plus Americans murdered by the fentanyl purposefully distributed by China and the terrorist drug cartels? The days of Christopher Columbus have long since sailed. We cannot afford to wait for the IC’s version of Rip Van Winkle to wake up realize the paradigm of war has shifted to cognitive war!

I assess we are in already in the middle of a Cognitive Coup de Main of America. It is well underway. There is the Democrat Blood Revolution, led by radical left lawmakers and their proxies (e.g., Antifa, NGOs, activists, and organizations) who are hell bent on obtaining absolute power by any means. The Obama and Biden administrations led this revolution, abusing government power and authorities, removing civil rights, targeting innocents, enabling an invasion of millions of illegals into America, fraudulently interfering in our elections, destroying businesses and individuals, while enabling adversaries like Iran, Russia, and China to advance. They continue to subvert our laws by blocking enforcement. President Trump was correct when he stated aboard Air Force One that “the US would have ended up in a similar dire situation to Venezuela—only worse, had he lost the 2024 election.”

The domestic Cognitive Coup de Main is one front; China leads the global front by fully infiltrating our homeland by deploying an army of nearly 500,000 across the USA (e.g., 300K students, 40-60K plus visa holders, 100K plus illegals). This army is aided by China’s proxies (e.g., terrorists and drug cartels, United Front, diaspora, and Americans), also already in America. The total number? Millions. Their individual subversive actions are viewed in isolation, not by the totality of the effectiveness of their broader strategy. That is the evil genius of cognitive war.

Over the past several decades, China has strategically positioned themselves inside the USA while cornering strategic areas (medical, mineral, and production). China has aggressively conducted aerial, human, and social media surveillance and targeting. They have tested our national security and critical infrastructures via increasingly aggressive cyber-attacks, flown drones over military and sensitive areas, intruded onto military bases, and fund mass demonstrations of deception. They built at least two illegal bioweapon labs near major transportation hubs and military bases, deployed illegal police stations, placed their spies into multiple state and federal government positions. They are reportedly fertilizing a legion of anchor babies (American citizens) for later insertion back into America. Two of these American citizens recently planted a bomb at a military base. Their army of Chinese nationals, terrorist drug cartels, and complicit illegals grows in the USA, leveraging a vast set of networks. These realities are documented in DOJ, FBI, Congressional investigations, and media reporting. The global Cognitive Coup de Main led by China is also underway!

Given a potential Taiwan conflict, and these capabilities, events could shift significantly within hours or days. China could covertly release deadly pathogens at several major transportation hubs and military installations infecting millions of Americans. Use prepositioned cyber server farms to destroy emergency communications in major cities. Deploy clandestine drone swarms targeting commercial airlines or destroy targets at military bases. They would likely attack critical infrastructure across the country disrupting fuel, energy, and food supplies thereby sending regions of our country into chaos. The drug cartels amplifying the terror via attacks on the population. We have little defense against many of these threats.

The point is our enemies (domestic and global) have the means and people to take these actions today. This is not fiction, it is fact. The materials, supplies, and personnel are readily available. Even if limited in scope to just one region or a few cities, the economic and military impact would be substantial. The current cognitive war threats are real and are subverting America from within, with the potential to greatly expand into a series of cataclysmic events. Do we define our future, or do we allow our enemies to define it for us?

The Cognitive Coup de Main of America has started. President Trump is leading proactive efforts to address Iran; similar action must be taken domestically. We are highly reactionary, unaware of cognitive war, and locked in industrial age cultures and structures. President Trump, DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard, Secretary Rubio, and Secretary Hegseth did not create this conundrum - but must fix it. The overhaul of national security must start today!

Edward Haugland is the author of “The Cognitive War” and a leading national expert in this field. He is an award-winning CIA analyst and retired Defense Department intelligence executive, as well as a U.S. Air Force veteran, with more than four decades of service in national security across multiple executive branch departments and agencies. All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the US Government. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying US Government authentication of information or endorsement of the author's views.

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