Darren Lawrence

This article is part of the Propaganda Portal project of Spinwatch.

Darren Lawrence is an academic at Cranfield University, part of the Defence Academy of the UK, where he is head of the Information Operations Postgraduate course.. Lawrence's academic background is in psychology and previous to his current employment he worked for QinetiQ where he concentrated on applying psychological expertise to influence operations in in achieving "outcomes that the UK Government saw as desireable" . After 4 years at QinetiQ , Lawrence moved to the Defence Academy where he was responsible for the creation of the Information Operations course and founding the annual Information Operations and Influence Activity (IOIA) Symposium.

Information Operations Course

Lawrence runs, and created, the Information Operations Post Graduate Certificate course accredited by Cranfield University as part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. The course can accomodate 25 students per session and is advertised as "suitable for UK and International Military" personel and "civilian employees from Government agencies and approved commercial organisations". Information Operations are defined as "Military activity intentionally taken, through action or inaction, to affect the perceptions, behaviours and uniquely, the will of a chosen target audience" and the course offers to provide "students with the competencies and abilities to advocate the Information Operations approach amongst decisions makers at a senior and national level".

Course Structure

The advertised modules which make up the course are (all information from unless otherwise stated):

• Information Operations Planning - Studies current doctrine and planning procedures for Information Operations
• Target Audience Dynamics - Focusses on "the need to change the behaviour of people" and recognises "the unique context of behaviour modification in military and law enforcement context in the need to consider and exploit the use of physical force".
• Measurement, Targetting and Monitoring - Allows students to "learn research skills and techniques to guide their planning and implementation of Information Operations" while taking "into account the conditions that prevail in military theatres where the environment is largely non-benign to many established social research methodologies".
• Defensive Information Management - Teaches students "a critical understanding of the opportunities and vulnerabilities they face when considering the issues of managing information flow". Focussing "on three key areas, Military Deception, Information Assurance and Media Operations".
• Operations in Cyberspace - Develops "a critical appreciation of the core concepts of Computer Network Information Operations" and "examines issues of Computer Network Attack through analysing cases of e-crime". Lawrence also notes that the course looks at "computer network information operations and...using the new media and the connectedness in an influence kind of way" and that "its all about these ideas of convergence and getting across a joined up message, and how you do that and what the potentials are".

Affiliations

• Cranfield University
• Defence Academy
• QinetiQ