Cognitive Warfare: NATO, COVID-19 and the Impact of Emerging and Disruptive Technologies

COVID-19 disinformation campaigns are considered as operations within the cognitive domain. Given its role in hybrid or grey zone warfare, countering disinformation is critical to the NATO Alliance. The disinformation campaign experienced by NATO during the COVID crisis provides an example of low-intensity but high-impact cognitive conflict. This overview of NATO's response to COVID-19 is based on official publicly available NATO materials and the authors' experiences supporting NATO's crisis management and strategic communications during the pandemic. Linkages are made to broader strategic disinformation campaigns and specifics discussed in the context of state and non-state actor cognitive and narrative competition. Actions taken within the general NATO S&T technology enterprise are outlined, especially those related to understanding and countering COVID-19 disinformation. Finally, the potentially destabilising effects of current and future emerging and disruptive technologies are considered as well as the scientific challenges they present in the context of cognitive conflict.