maxims, true today as yesterday............

[Sabrina Satanas]

<td val[/IMG]

<pre>The maxims are:
1. Reinforce his beliefs (Magruder's Principle)-It
is generally easier to induce a target to maintain
an existing belief than to entice him to change his
beliefs.


2. Target his mind--There are limitations to human
information processing that are deceptively
exploitable.
3. Use multiple forms of surprise-- Surprise can
be achieved in the following categories: size,


activity, location, unit, time, equipment-(SALUTE)
intent, and style.
4. Feed all the enemy's sources (Jones' Dilemma)--
Deception becomes more difficult as the number of

sources available to confirm the real increases.

5. Create Noise only for a purpose--Too much
erroneous information can obscure the deception
effort.
6. Use deception selectively--It may be wise to

withhold the employment of deception capabilities

until the stakes are high.
7. Deception is continuous--Deception activities
should be sequenced to portray the deception for as
long as possible.

8. Feedback is a must--An intelligence collection

scheme should be employed to determined if the
deception is being adopted, rejected, or countered.
9. Focus on the enemy's action (The Monkey's Paw)-

Deception efforts may produce unwanted actions from

the enemy and friendly units.
10. Don't make it easy for him--If the target's
intelligence collection system has to work for the

indicators, the greater the chance he'll believe

them. (6 & 13)
The actual process in planning the deception is not well
understood, nor is it an isolated event. The process of

deception can be broken down into ten steps.
First, the Commander must define his goals. This may be

to achieve a surprise invasion, or simply to insert and
retrieve a reconnaissance party from a hostile country with

limited casualties. These goals define the limits of the
deception. Second, the Commander must decide how he wants

the enemy to react. The question is: "What do you want him
to do?", and never "What do you want him to think?"

Third, only now can the Commander, by himself, decide
what he wants the enemy to think about the facts or impending

event; exactly what is it you want the enemy to perceive?
Fourth, what is to be hidden about the facts or events and

what is to be shown in their place. He should remember that
hiding and showing take place simultaneously; or else the

absence of one reveals the presence of the other.
Fifth, the Commander must analyze the pattern of the

real thing to identify its distinguishing characteristics.
Specifically, which characteristics must be deleted or added

to show a different pattern to suitably mask, repackage or
dazzle. Sixth, he does the same analysis for the false thing

to be shown in place of the real. Seventh, at this point,
the Commander has designed a desired effect together with its

hidden method. The means to present the effect to the enemy
is now explored. This may be limited to assets on hand.

This may require a return to step four.
Eighth, the planning phase is over and the operational

phase begins. The Commander has to turn the plan over to the
operational units to "sell" the package. This is not to say

that everyone can be told of the deception, just the ones
actually conducting the deception. Ninth, the false

information has to be delivered to the enemy's sensors. It
must reach the sensors the enemy is using; it doesn't do any

good to present a false picture to a blind enemy.
Tenth, and last, for the deception to succeed, the enemy

must "buy" the effect, not perceiving it as an illusion. The
deception will fail at this point if the enemy ignores it,

detects its method, or misconstrues its intended meaning.
Conversely, the enemy will:

*take notice, if the effect is designed to attract
his attention
*find it relevant, if the effect can hold his

interests
*perceive the false, if the presented patterns
match his experience

*ignore the real, if the real patterns are hidden
from his sensors
Effective deception planning must anticipate all four of

these contingencies. The wise Commander seeks feedback,
monitoring the enemy's responses to assure that these last

four contingencies are being met.
Deception should be viewed as the perfect "force

multiplier". It can easily tailored for the operation, from
one man to several hundred depending on the situation. The

payoffs for surprise are almost always high, it multiplies
the chances for quick and decisive military success. In his

study of deception operations, Stratagem, Whaley found a
successful deception has at least an 80% chance of yielding

surprise. (22:234) Deception can also induce the enemy to
divide his assets, thus making him less capable. If the

enemy ignores or misinterprets the deception, the MAGTF
Commander is no worse off. At the very least, the enemy has

spent time evaluating the deception, and not planning his
course of action.
The military methods of planning deception operations

are well documented in various publications. (13-16 & 18-21)
The ten steps previously outlined lay out a simple method for

the Commander to formulate and execute his deception plan.
The decision to deceive always resides with the Commander.

The MAGTF Commander must actively pursue deception operations
as an integral part of warfare. Warfare today is no

different today than in 500 B.C. when Sun Tzu wrote:
All warfare is based on deception. Therefore, when

capable, feign incapacity; when active, inactivity.
When near, make it appear that you are far away;

when far away, that you are near. Offer the enemy
a bait to lure him; feign disorder and strike him.</pre>
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