is to increase the understanding of cognitive warfare and its effects, which will lead to more effective prevention and mitigation strategies and countermeasures to increase security among nations and within the NATO alliance. The outcome of the work will support addressing the Warfare Development Initiatives stated in the NATO Warfighting Capstone Concept. Cognitive warfare is classified as the sixth warfighting domain beside land, sea, air, space, and cyber.

Cognitive threats through misinformation, disinformation, bots, and artificial intelligence (AI) have already become a key element in conflicts between the U.S., China, Russia, and Ukraine. For example, in the recent conflicts in Ukraine, a current issue is how countries like the U.S. or organizations like NATO fund and support troops on the ground from afar.

Agarwal, who is also the founding director of the Collaboratorium for Social Media and Online Behavioral Studies () Research Center at 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock, traveled to Madrid, Spain, to present at the symposium on Nov. 13-14, 2023. His paper is entitled, 鈥淒eveloping Socio-computational Approaches to Mitigate Socio-cognitive Security Threats in a Multi-platform Multimedia-rich Information Environment.鈥�

In his presentation, Agarwal noted that socio-cognitive threats are increasingly becoming a collective phenomenon and central in online information environments utilizing multimedia. His study enhances situation awareness by using real-life datasets from COVID-19, the Indo-Pacific region, and participation in NATO exercises dating back to 2013 to develop algorithms that detect, examine, evaluate, measure, and predict cognitive threats like adversarial information campaigns.

Agarwal鈥檚 research informs policymakers on how NATO and other affiliated countries can effectively combat the effects of these adversarial tactics and new technologies

鈥淧ropaganda disseminated through social media could potentially be used to persuade susceptible targets to disrupt or delay military operations through protests or other 鈥榥on-lethal resistance,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淣arratives can be easily manipulated and influenced by bots, trolls, and other influence operation tactics, techniques, and procedures.鈥�

Moreover, Agarwal also highlighted the inherent dangers of these adversarial information campaigns, pointing out that 鈥渕ost users of social media cannot or will not differentiate between legitimate and non-legitimate accounts.鈥�

鈥淪ince such influence operation tactics, techniques, and procedures can be employed clandestinely in a low-cost, low-risk context, military leaders can expect to encounter an increased amount of adversary-generated, AI-amplified social media-driven propaganda,鈥� he said.

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The Little Rock native visited as a special guest speaker to students in the Donaghey Scholars Honors Program, the university鈥檚 top honors program that provides free tuition, fees, room and board, a computer, and a study abroad trip for students selected for the program. Donaghey Scholars participate in an interdisciplinary curriculum that emphasizes critical thinking through the reading of primary texts, writing, and discussion.

Gen. Clark spoke to more than 50 Donaghey Scholars. The visit was connected to a special course taught by Dr. Jessica Scott, associate director of the Donaghey Scholars, and Dr. Ren茅 Shroat-Lewis, associate professor of geology, that focuses on energy policy and sustainability. He discussed the war in Ukraine and the geopolitical impact of the sanctions on Russia, especially in the field of energy.

鈥淚 am so grateful that the students had this opportunity,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淕eneral Clark has had an incredible career and is still an active part of shaping world events through his consulting work. I also cannot stress enough how much it matters to our students to see that someone with General Clark’s career graduated from high school right here in Little Rock. It is important for them to see how far they can go if they also strive for excellence in everything they do.鈥�

Junior Lamar Townsend, a double major in political science and finance/real estate, said he learned a lot from the general鈥檚 visit.

鈥淚t was a good perspective from someone who鈥檚 been in the field for so long, and it was a unique perspective to hear,鈥� Townsend said. 鈥淭he most interesting part of Gen. Clark鈥檚 visit was hearing about the history of America鈥檚 influence on foreign relations.鈥�

While Yvonne Rodriquez, a double major in sociology and political science, found Gen. Clark鈥檚 take on current political topics 鈥渆ye opening,鈥� her favorite part of the general鈥檚 talk was his three principles for how to approach life.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to approach life with three principles,鈥� Gen. Clark said. 鈥淒o the best you can do with what you鈥檙e doing and go into it like your life depends on it. The second thing you鈥檝e got to be is humble. The third thing you have to have is gratitude.鈥�

鈥淚t was very inspiring that he said that our generation is the one who will change things for the future, and he told us about the three things we need to do to succeed in life,鈥� Rodriquez said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I took away as very inspiring.鈥�

Following his talk, Gen. Clark spent an hour visiting with students who wanted to learn more. Scott said Gen. Clark鈥檚 visit was all the students could talk about during class the next day.

鈥淪ome of the things they talked about included how he stressed the importance of making an impact and creating the world they want to live in, starting in their own communities,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淭hey also appreciated how he made them 鈥榮ee the whole board鈥� when it comes to geopolitics and better understand the many factors that have to be considered in countries to get involved in disputes. They said it helped them to understand what is happening in Ukraine with greater depth. Several of them also mentioned how much they appreciated his warmth and interest in them.鈥�

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