In April, the New York Times broke a story about the now infamous Pentagon information apparatus that used retired military officers in a "campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance" (Behind Military Analysts, the Pentagon's Hidden Hand By David Barstow, New York Times, April 20, 2008). The Times also published some of the documents it obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests on its web site (NY Times publishes some FOIA documents).

Now, the Pentagon has published documents it released. This collection appears more complete than what the NYT released.

• Military Analysts "These documents were released to the New York Times regarding the Pentagon's Military Analyst program." (last updated 28-May-08)

The documents are posted on the web at the "Reading Room" of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Joint Staff, Requester Service Center, Office of Freedom of Information, under the heading "5 U.S.C. § 552 (a)(2)(D) Records – Records released to the public, under the FOIA, that are or will likely become the subject of subsequent requests" under the heading "Military Analysts."

The first two parts of a three part series on how the military is adapting to the Internet are online: from the Air Force banning access from official networks to many blogs (because they are not "established, reputable media"), to the Army setting up its own, password protected version of MySpace ("MilSpace"?).

The Military's Internet 'Civil War' by David Axe, The Washington Independent
• Part One: How the Army Found Middle Ground to Embrace the Internet, 05/30/2008
• Part Two: How the Coast Guard Botched Its Online Start, 06/03/2008

The Congressional Research Service has issued a report entitled (45 page pdf) Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2007, updated January 14, 2008 .  It reviews hundreds of instances in which the United States has sent military forces abroad in situations of military conflict or potential conflict to protect U.S. citizens or promote U.S. interests. The listed deployments vary in size and length, legal authorization and significance. In eleven separate cases listed in bold-face type the U.S. formally declared war against foreign nations; but for most the status of the action under domestic or international law hasn't been addressed.  A sample entry:

"1798-1800      Undeclared  Naval  War  with  France.    This  contest  included  land actions, such as that in the Dominican Republic, city of Puerto Plata, where marines captured a French privateer under the guns of the forts. Congress authorized military action through a series of statutes.
1801-05          Tripoli.   The   First   Barbary   War   included   the U.S.S. George Washington and Philadelphia affairs and the Eaton expedition, during which a few marines landed with United States Agent William Eaton to raise a force against Tripoli in an effort to free the crew of the Philadelphia.    Tripoli  declared  war  but  not  the  United  States, although Congress authorized U.S. military action by statute."

New York Times reporters Eric Lichtbaum and Maek Mazzetti report in the January 14, 2007 issue, about the expanding role of the U. S. military in domestic espionage, and deletions in a U.S. Army Manual that may indicate the executive branch is once again wiretapping without a warrant.

The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage inside the U.S.

(Military Expands Intelligence Role in U.S., by Eric Lichtbaum and Maek Mazzetti.)

Deep into an updated Army manual, the deletion of 10 words has left some national security experts wondering whether government lawyers are again asserting the executive branch’s right to wiretap Americans without a court warrant.

(Deletions in Army Manual Raise Wiretapping Concerns, by Eric Lichtbaum and Maek Mazzetti)

A subscription to the New York Times is required to read these articles.

Communications during war is vital to military operations, and information, or lack of it, can make or break a battle.

Information Warfare (IW), also known as cyberwar, cyber attack, and cyberterrorism, is a form of modern warfare in which information and media become instruments of war.

As of 13 Jan 06 JP 3-13, the Joint Doctrine for Information Operations removed the term information warfare and replaced it with the more civilized concept of Information Operations (IO).

Likewise, the term has been removed from JP 1-02, the Deparment of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms

The U.S. Air Force retains the idea of Information Warfare in AFDD 2-5, Information Operations, with this definition:

Information warfare is information operations conducted to defend one’s own information and information systems or attacking and affecting an adversary’s in-formation and information systems.

Duane McCollum, FGI Blogger of the month for December, 2006, posted an interesting entry on December 1, 2006 about the
Global Information Grid (GIG) and Net Centricity.

The concepts of information warfare and information operations are closely tied to the GIG and to the ultimate goal of Information Assurance (IA).

I have to ponder a moment while I contemplate the level of Information Assurance associated with publications that remove definitions...

Should a reputable dictionary at the very least indicate that this term is archaic?

Are any other archaic definitions missing?

Could this very lack of information be construed as a form of Information Warfare itself?

As we like to say in library collection development, "let's keep a copy for historical research."

Air University's Air War College, Cyberspace and Information Operations Study Center, publishes an excellent bibliography called Information Operations, Warfare, Info Ops, Infowar, Cyberwar with a section devoted exclusively to information warfare.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, I'd suggest you immediately click on thelink to this bibliography and read -- just in case any more archaic concepts are removed.