Information Operations
Facts Fakes Conspiracists
Steve Tatham
Havant, UK: Howgate Publishing, 2024
Paperback 272pp RRP: $39.95
Reviewer: Neville Taylor, August 2024
Information Operations encompasses the following activities: propaganda, information warfare, psychological operations, strategic communication, information activities and misinformation and disinformation. Steve Tatham has had a career in the Royal Navy and RN Reserve for the last 35 years with the last two-thirds being involved in Information and Psychological Operations. He has seen many of his peers come and go depending on the waxing and waning of information operations (IO) in the priority of the Ministry of Defence. Highly regarded in his field, he is providing an opportunity to reappraise the place of information in our daily and military environments. His major tenant is that the human factor takes priority in IO.
With countless historic examples of both successful and unsuccessful IOs, the reader is given an insider’s view of many recent and past events. Being a recognized international consultant and expert came at a huge cost to Tatham when the Cambridge Analytica scandal over the unauthorised access to over 87 million Facebook files in March 2018 was revealed. An intense personal media campaign apportioning his responsibility in the affair was launched against him which had a major personal impact upon him.
Saudi Arabia was eager to reduce the influence of extreme preachers. Research found that youth were differential to authoritative figures and so star footballers were used to great effect. This was coined the Behavioural Dynamics (BD) approach as part of Target Audience Analysis. Tatham regarded it as the cornerstone to IO, but as it was based on population data, it was ‘killed off’ after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, thus making current and future IOs less effective.
The currency of this work is most evident – it took twelve months for the Ministry of Defence to grant its approval for its publication. Tatham advocates greater education in activities such as clear thinking and reasoning to help future generations distinguish between fact and fiction. The conclusion contains eight recommended steps to remedy deficits in public communication, and the same number of recommendations for improvement in the armed forces.
Information operations concern everyone in today’s society – Steve Tatham has written for all comers using non-technical language that facilitates easy reading. This is a watershed work that has been meticulously researched (with the Footnotes where they belong – on the bottom of the page!).
The RUSI – Vic Library is most grateful to the publisher for making this work available for review.