As Dr. Ian McCulloh stated, "Military leaders today must evolve their thinking from traditional military objectives of geographic terrain to higher level objectives of social problems and influence."iv In the past, our military found it difficult to develop in-depth understanding of the human domain prior to deployment. In order to prevent, shape, and win future conflicts, our forces must embrace the challenge of understanding and influencing the human domain.v To achieve victory in future conflicts, US forces will require the ability to maneuver more effectively than our opponents in the narrative space. Maneuver in the narrative space will require in-depth understanding of the human domain, including the human networks that propagate opposing narratives. It will also require a coherent strategy to guide engagements and operations, both non-lethal and lethal, from the strategic to the tactical levels. But these are not concepts to be implemented in the distant future; they could be implemented now to counter ISIL in the narrative space. The vignette below describes how the US-led Multinational Coalition conducted successful counter-narrative operations against Al-Qaeda during 2010.
Despite successful counter-narrative operations against Al-Qaeda in Iraq, however, we have not fully applied past success to current efforts to counter ISIL in the narrative space. ISIL is outmaneuvering the US and our allies in the narrative spacevi by using narratives that resonate with target audiences. This is significant because, as written by LTC Brian Steed,
The "decisive operation" on the current Middle Eastern battlefield is narrative. Violence is still a critical portion of armed conflict, but it optimally serves a supporting role. Da’ash [ISIL] and others use violence primarily to communicate, confirm, or advance their narrative.vii
LTC Steed’s opinion that the narrative is decisive is reinforced in a recent white paper titled, "The Gray Zone," which was endorsed by General Votel, the current commander of USSOCOM. It states, "[t]housands of airstrikes helped to check their (ISIL’s) rapid expansion, but the decisive effort against them will require discrediting their narrative and connecting the people to legitimate governing structures - areas where DOD should not have primacy."viii