The United States has lost war games before, that is not what makes a recent defeat so concerning. The reason to worry according to General John Hyten is the assumptions we had going into turned out to not hold much weight. The U.S. team arrived at their last war game assuming it could achieve information dominance in a great-power conflict but the results proved otherwise. Securing an informational advantage was identified as a critical mission among Defense Department leadership a few years ago. Steps have been made to “connect every sensor to every shooter” but the task is far from complete. It has been realized that the information systems connecting the military have become the single greatest vulnerability in terms of a great power conflict. Information warfare is a tricky concept, all anyone is looking to gain is a temporary “advantage”; in more conventional forms of war dominance or superiority can be achieved. There will always be competing information through human nature. In theory, the US should not struggle against China or Russia in these types of battles, but rather than not preparing and assuming it will go well, the proper preparations need to be made.
Source: https://warontherocks.com/2021/09/confronting-chaos-a-new-concept-for-information-advantage/
