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BOOK REVIEWS Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle

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BOOK REVIEWS Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle BOOK REVIEWS Information Wars: How We Department officials appeared to have no substantial understand- Lost the Global Battle Against ing of disinformation until well in to its zenith as a strategy. What Stengel lacks in expertise is made up for in strong story telling Disinformation and What ability and an affinity for crediting smart, capable subordinates We Can Do About It who enabled both him and other principals of the department. by Richard Stengel New York, NY: Grove Atlantic, 2019 The colloquial voice that Stengel chooses for his narration 368 pages, $41.95 makes the book entertaining and easy to digest. Therefore, the ISBN: 978-0-8021-4798-1 account of the rise of modern disinformation is well-presented Reviewed by Simon Wells in that sense, but it is notably casual, and at times, this causes the reader to wonder how seriously the author takes his subject. ichard Stengel is the former editor of Time His final section of the book, which outlines “what we can do magazine and the former Undersecretary of State about it,” is a very abbreviated response to the problems posed for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (PDPA) by disinformation that would perhaps be appropriate for a memo- in the final years of the Obama administra- randum from someone of his stature, had his intent been to brief tion. He served under Secretary of State John Secretary Kelly or President Obama. To that end, it might have RKelly, having been U.S. Senate-confirmed to the appointment been expanded into a restructured second half of a book, following immediately after retiring as the sixteenth managing editor of up on a more abbreviated narrative to answer the piqued interest in Time, from 2006 to 2013. In this book, Stengel often refers disinformation problems. That said, in this section, more strategic, to his extra-governmental career experience, which gives him legal, and technical aptitude is displayed than in the remainder of alternative perspectives, and sometimes, in this reviewer’s the book, which provides great credibility to Stengel’s arguments opinion, lack of perspective, regarding governmental affairs that might have been better tied in earlier in the narrative. and practices. Information Wars… is neither The book takes a narrative scholarship, nor a practitioner’s form, directly explaining its sub- expert input, although it presents title, “How we lost the global battle itself as the latter. It is perhaps more against disinformation,” but it is similar to an ethnographer’s notes short on “what we can do about on the development of a phenom- it,” and offers no real conceptual enon, recounting local perceptions or strategic analysis of the problems and actions associated with it, but associated with disinformation. Mr. not creating a greater conceptual Stengel describes his arrival at and model. The book is a good intro- onboarding to the United States ductory resource to understanding Department of State, and humbly disinformation, and it is worth the narrates his confusion with respect read as a historical account from to the mechanisms of government one of the leaders of the American throughout his tenure. He provides response to the rise of the Islamic an intimate witness’s account of the State and the Russian invasion of rise of the Islamic State and pro- Ukraine. While political scientists Russian, pro-Ukrainian annexation or information operations practi- disinformation campaigns, and then tioners will probably not benefit frankly describes his department’s much from the book, anyone with lack of awareness of, prepared- a fundamental awareness of dis- ness for, or ability to deal with information will find its contents these activities. Stengel literally informative, and its style engaging. explains how the rise of disinfor- mation campaigns came about from Simon D.H. Wells is a former a bystander’s perspective, offering uniformed member of 4 Canadian no depth of analysis of the grand- Division Headquarters, a graduate or military-strategic forces at play. of the Royal Military College of Canada, and a graduate student A telling moment in the nar- at Royal Roads University. He is a rative is Mr. Stengel’s realization, certified Professional Logistician upon being briefed by a military intelligence officer, that the and has past experience as an emergency management officer asymmetry of disinformation is its key attraction (in this case, for in several domestic operations while employed at Public Safety Russia): creating confusion is both a method and an objective. This Canada. Simon has been previously published in the Canadian anecdote alone, no more than a page of text in this book, is the Military Journal on this field of expertise, and is currently employed most theoretically-substantial contribution made by Stengel herein. with the City of Toronto’s Office of Emergency Management. The anecdote’s implication is even more revealing: senior State Canadian Military Journal • Vol. 20, No. 3, Summer 2020 65.
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