Adaptive Traits of Nonstate GroupsStealth—the ability to blend into the physical, social, and informational background, adopting “adaptive coloration” to disappear when threatened.
Dispersion—the ability to move and fight dispersed, either without having to concentrate at all (using connectivity and remote-warfare tools) or concentrating for specific operations to overwhelm a weaker enemy, before dispersing again.
Modularity—the ability to operate in small bands, employing combat groups that can survive the destruction of other groups and self-healing networks that can regenerate new combat groups if necessary.
Autonomy—the ability to operate for long periods without orders or communications, thereby reducing the electronic signature of the group and improving its survivability.
Hiding in electronic plain sight—the ability to hide within gigantic volumes of electronic traffic, adopting low-profile behaviors to avoid attracting analysts’ attention or triggering an operational response, even while accepting the reality of pervasive surveillance.
“Hugging”—the ability to get close to protected populations or sites or to piggyback onto systems (GPS, Google Earth, smartphones, the internet) that opponents cannot disable without harming themselves.
Media manipulation—the ability to goad, provoke, or trick an adversary into inflicting disproportionate civilian casualties or property damage, and then exploit such errors through a manipulated media backlash.
Political warfare—the ability to manipulate and mobilize supporters through mass communication, social networks, weaponized diasporas, and online networks, using protest movements and agents of influence to undermine an opponent’s operations, unity, and legitimacy.
Technology and connectivity hacking—the ability to rapidly repurpose consumer systems, use civilian devices in combat settings, and develop precision or collaborative-engagement systems that are better than those available to state opponents (using both hardware and software skills).
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Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.
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