The Navy Is Not Ready for the Information War of 2026

The Navy has not adequately planned for the intersection of the cyber and maritime domains in war.

Information warfare in the maritime domain includes space, network, and cyberspace operations; electromagnetic warfare (including free space optics at the high end of the spectrum); and maneuver in the electromagnetic spectrum that directly affects fleet operations and planning. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel underscore that operational planners need to prepare for information attacks by state actors as well as nonstate organizations and civilians. Whether because of competing priorities or an incomplete assessment, the Navy has not fully embraced that access to space operations supporting distributed maritime operations requires cyberspace access and capabilities; that naval platforms have inherent access advantages to support both cyber and space operations; and that service leaders need to understand, assess, defend against, and defeat cognitive warfare campaigns.