#2 Austin Branch, the US Army's First Information Operations officer

<p>In this episode, we discuss the evolution of information operations since the early 1990s, the state of our national strategic efforts to compete in the information environment, and strategic approaches related to cognitive security.</p> <p><a href= "https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-2"> Click here for full show notes & resources</a></p> <p>Mr. Austin Branch is an Information Operations pioneer, practitioner and leader. He holds the distinction of being the Army’s very first Information Operations officer when that career field was just forming, and while in uniform, he served at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. Since retirement from the Army, Mr. Branch served in several senior executive civilian roles within the Department of Defense which focused on information operations, cyber, and counter-terrorism. Most recently, he co-founded the Information Professionals Association or IPA.</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">IPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For more information, please contact us at <a href= "mailto:communications@information-professionals.org">communications@information-professionals.org</a>.</span></p> <p>Or, you can connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbicknell/">John Bicknell on LinkedIn</a>.</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Disclosure: 1) As an Amazon Associate, IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.</span></p>