The Vietnam War was lost by the Americans in the information domain. While the U.S. military held their own on the lethal front against the Viet Cong’s ground offensives and infiltrated elements from North Vietnam, the United States failed to find the strategic response needed to defeat the communist enemy on the non-lethal front. Episode 33 of the podcast “50 Years of Information Warfare” looks back at the failures of the Saigon-based government in its attempt to eradicate communist influence in rural areas. It also examines the shortcomings of the U.S. political-military system during the various “pacification” efforts carried out among the South Vietnamese population. These lessons from history should be compared with the hybrid wars emerging today, whether in Ukraine, the Middle East, and perhaps tomorrow in Asia.
