The Need to Inoculate Military Servicemembers Against Information Threats: The Case for Digital Literacy Training for the Force

Peter Singer wrote an article for War on the Rocks about the importance of digital literacy, especially for those in the Defense Department.

Every minute of every day, men and women in uniform are attacked by a weapon that threatens them, their services, and the nation. Yet the U.S. military has not trained them to prepare for this onslaught. It is time for this to change.

Over the last several years, misinformation and deliberately spread disinformation, pushed by both foreign and domestic sources, have proliferated online. They have shaped not just what people read and believe, but also how they act. This “weaponization of social media” has created a formidable challenge in nearly every policy area, from aiding the forces of terrorism and extremism, to being a tool of great-power competition, to damaging the vitality of our democracy.