Information Warfare
Warfare Part 1, What You Need to Know
Tokyo Rose
Date: August 14, 1944, 8:30 p.m.
Location: South Pacific
Event: The “Zero Hour,” an English-language Japanese broadcast of
war news, popular American music, and Japanese propaganda, is
broadcast to the Allied Forces.
The familiar voice of “Tokyo Rose” is heard over the radio waves.
“Hello you fighting orphans in the Pacific. How’s tricks? This is
‘After her weekend, and oooh, back on the air, strictly under union
hours.’ Reception okay? Why, it better be, because this is All-Requests
night. And I’ve got a pretty nice program for my favorite little family, the
wandering boneheads of the Pacific Islands. The first request is made
by none other than the boss. And guess what? He wants Bonnie Baker
in ‘My Resistance is Low.’ My, what taste you have, sir, she says”
[http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5140].
T
he persona of “Tokyo Rose” is a well-known example of For additional Supplemental Content to this print article,
information warfare (IW) from World War II. This prop- go to the http://www.infotoday.com/searcher website.
The supplements for this article are summarized below.
aganda scheme by the Japanese government was not
very effective at dissuading American troops. Troops looked for- ❚ Chronology
“Chronology: National Infrastructure Protection” provides
ward to the nightly broadcasts in the hope of hearing their a timeline starting with the establishment in 1963 of the
favorite American music. Other similar propaganda schemes National Communications System and going up to the July
2009 development of a cyber Neighborhood Watch begun
include Axis Sally, Hanoi Hannah, and even Hanoi Jane. How
by the U.S. Department of Energy.
has information warfare changed in the decades since Tokyo
Rose? While propaganda campaigns still occur, networks, com- ❚ Bibliography
This extensive bibliography presents more than 250
puters, and their increasing interaction within various infra- references from the print article.
structures occur much more frequently.
In an interesting historical note, Iva Toguri D’Aquino was
believed to be one of the many voices broadcast to Allied Troops
during World War II, voices that were collectively known as by
Tokyo Rose. A Japanese-American woman, she was tried and Deborah A. Liptak
convicted of treason in 1949 and served 6 years in prison. She President
passed away on Sept. 26, 2006, at the age of 90. info2go
www.infotoday.com/searcher October 2009 21
Information Warfare
The Information Age As citizens of the 21st century, we live in the Information Age.
Before we can talk intelligently about information warfare, We swim in information. We are overloaded by information. Our
we should define exactly what we mean by the term informa- lives revolve around information. Our livelihoods depend on
tion in this context. Information is defined by the United States information. Information exists at the core of all existence. Bio-
Department of Defense as “data, or instructions in any medium logical and social systems have information at their core, and
or form, or the meaning that a human assigns to data by means their motion, behavior, and evolution all revolve around infor-
of the known conventions used in their representation.” mation processing [http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?
From the ringing alarm clock at the beginning of our day to AD=ADA449966&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf].
late night news and entertainment, information about our world Following World War