Denial and deception

Denial and deception (D&D) is a Western theoretical framework for conceiving and analyzing military intelligence techniques pertaining to secrecy and deception. Originating in the 1980s, it is roughly based on the more pragmatic Soviet practices of maskirovka (which preceded the D&D conceptualization by decades) but it has a more theoretical approach compared to the latter.

In the D&D framework, denial and deception are seen as distinct but complementary endeavors. Denial most often involves security and to prevent foreign agents, photographic surveillance, electronic monitoring, or even the media from revealing secretive diplomatic or military matters. Deception is the construction of a false reality for the adversary through intentionally "leaked" false information, false stories implanted in the media, dummy or decoy structures or military formations, or numerous other measure. For example, in the Japanese information warfare campaign that preceded the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the D&D approach identifies as a denial measure the twice-repeated change in naval call signs effected by the Imperial Navy between 1 November and 1 December, but identifies as a deception measure the Japanese Foreign Office announcement that a large Japanese liner would sail to California on December 2 to evacuate Japanese citizens.

A denial and deception campaign is most effective when numerous denial and deceptive efforts are coherently coordinated to advance a specific plan; however, the most effective such operations are very complex, involving numerous persons or organizations, and this can prove exceedingly difficult. A single failed denial measure or deception can easily jeopardize an entire operation.

According to political scientist John J. Mearsheimer, in Why Leaders Lie, during peaceful times, inter-state communications of deceptions have little traction as the level of trust between states is usually already very low and therefore being caught in a lie would be ruinous, while on the other hand, leaders in democracies transcend up the ranks largely through employing political deception and thus are not only familiar with deceiving the public for personal gain but who have considerable political capital and trust built up following their election. With this comparatively high level of trust, democratic leaders are the most likely to successfully target the public with deceptions, particularly with fearmongering. Moersheimer uses the following example to convey the abstraction, that of Saddam Hussein who, while a malevolent dictator, had not lied to the world about having no weapons of mass destruction(WMD). Yet western democracies headed by George Bush and Tony Blair had succeeded in instilling enough fear, uncertainty and doubt in the media and general populace to convince most that Hussein was duplicitous and did in fact have these "WMDs". Following this successful deception, the two democratic leaders were effective in launching the Iraq war with little opposition.

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