The 91社区 hosted the 5th Annual CarverCon Conference on November 4, 2022 at the Military Leadership Conference Center. The event is billed as the 鈥淧remier Threat and Vulnerability Assessment Conference鈥� and is based upon the concepts of the CIA鈥檚 CARVER Target Analysis and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology. This year鈥檚 conference focused on the theme of 鈥淒enial, Deception and Misdirection.鈥�
General (Ret) Frank McKenzie, Executive Director of the Global and National Security Institute and former commander at U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) focused on the tenant of deception in his keynote address, quoting Winston Churchill in his speech: 鈥淚n wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.鈥�
McKenzie dug deeper into Churchill鈥檚 statement by discussing Operation Fortitude in World War II. Operation Fortitude was the enormous undertaking by the Allies leading up to D-Day in June of 1944. The mission of Fortitude was to keep the Germans off guard, convincing them the Allied invasion was coming at Calais, not Normandy.
鈥淭here are two separate ideas at play in Churchill鈥檚 statement,鈥� McKenzie explained. 鈥淭he first is that deception protects the truth in war. There鈥檚 no better example of this than Operation Fortitude. The second idea is that offensive deception must have a kernel of truth about it; it must be plausible and believable by your enemy.鈥�
McKenzie also examined a fundamental change in the principle of deception from when his career began after graduating from The Citadel in 1979: you no longer need for something to actually happen to be able to create havoc. The simple act of saying something happened (disinformation) is now sufficient.
鈥淔or much of my career, we focused on what I鈥檒l call 鈥榯he act,鈥欌�� he explained. 鈥淭his act would be described, spun, emphasized in the information space. You now no longer need the thing to actually occur. This is a huge change and we have been very slow to appreciate the shift. In our messaging, we still have a relationship with the truth. For our opponents, that鈥檚 no longer the case.鈥�
McKenzie also addressed current events during his speech, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Beyond the destruction, and the tumultuous effect it鈥檚 had on the entire world, McKenzie did find some positives developing from the conflict.
鈥淭he crisis in Ukraine has once again shown the important of collective security agreements. By that, I mean allies and partners,鈥� McKenzie said. 鈥淭he North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATIO), for all its warts and shortfalls, is our asymmetric advantage against Russia. Russia has only Iran, North Korea and, half-heartedly, China. If Vladimir Putin鈥檚 challenge to the international order is to be turned aside, it will be because of the concreted actions of the U.S. and our NATO partners.鈥�