MOTIVATIONS AND ENABLERS PRESENT IN DECEPTION OPERATIONS: HISTORICAL CASE STUDY EXAMPLE - OPERATION FORTITUDE
Open Access
- Author:
- Eberhardt, Gabrielle Patricia
- Area of Honors:
- Security and Risk Analysis
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Jacob Lehner Graham, Thesis Supervisor
Dinghao Wu, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- deception
entities
motivations
biases
enablers
Operation FORTITUDE
exploit
aware
vulnerable - Abstract:
- Deception is a means to gain a favorable advantage. Whether practiced as statecraft (nation state against nation state), tradecraft (spy versus spy) or as part of a criminal enterprise (against groups or individuals), it is a tactic that is used every day, and in every part of the world. Motivations, methods, and objectives all vary by user group based largely on the desired outcome. There are two commonalities shared across all deception operations: 1) some elements of truth are what deceptions are based on; and 2) all deceptions prey on some form of bias. Biases can be cultural, personal, organizational, cognitive, or combinations thereof. To know which bias to exploit, the deceiver must have some understanding of the deception target, its behaviors, tendencies, and expectations. Then, armed with this understanding, the deceiver feeds a deception story or message to the deception target in an attempt to guide the victim to adopt a course of action that is favorable to the deceiver. This paper will examine the elements of deception through the context of a World War II military deception operation - Operation FORTITUDE. In doing so, it will highlight the component parts of deception-- how the parts were employed and when the parts were employed; and what made them successful or not. While Operation FORTITUDE was largely statecraft, that is, deception between nation states, it involved deception across a wide continuum and was comprised of multiple tactical-level deceptions within the larger deception theater. In similar fashion, the individual deception targets and their associated biases varied based on the role played by targeted individuals or groups in the overall operation. In Operation FORTITUDE, the British intelligence services represented the deceiver group and the German high command represented the primary target group. In between, there were multiple other deception targets (individuals & groups), with varying biases exploited and multiple stages of deception - each stage had to be completed successfully before the next step and next target could be engaged. One can gain much value by exploring deception through the lens of history and through the analysis of a real deception operation. First, analyzing this historic deception case provides an opportunity to tease out the elements of deception through the post mortem of history. Next, it enables one to view the entire deception continuum, from inception and planning through implementation. Additionally, such an examination hopes to provide the reader an insight into current-day activities and a better understanding of the role of deception in the modern context of a technology-enabled society. Finally, it will help intelligence and security professionals to be more aware of those things that make us vulnerable to deception and provide insight to help guard against it.