Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Disinformation

Disinformation is one of the Alliance's support powers.

Overview
"What do you mean you never said "They are firing the proton collider"?"

-A Voshkod commander to Zofia on an apparent message

Reconnaissance has always played a vital part in achieving victory in battle, ever since humans first went to war. Whether by horse-mounted cavalry, espionage, or some other method, armies have attempted to gather information on the movements of their enemies. Even today, reconnaissance remains a key part of warfare, and ever more advanced methods of gathering information on the enemy have been developed, from spy satellites to unmanned aerial vehicles.

With accurate information gathering being so important to victory, the ability to deceive the enemy, to trick and confuse them into believing the wrong things by providing them with false information, could help one to secure victory over one's enemies, or otherwise secure some sort of advantage. The art of deception isn't just limited to war; the KGB and the ACIN constantly engage in attempts to spread disinformation to the other side.

In particular, the Peacekeepers are known for their use of "disinformation" attacks; through a multitude of different means, the enemy is bombarded and overwhelmed with falsified data, contacts, and reports, the aim of such an attack is to confuse and panic the enemy command staff as much as possible, allowing the Peacekeepers to then take advantage of the confusion in the enemy ranks. To achieve this, enemy communications channels are flooded with radio chatter, false radio messages are deliberately leaked to fool the enemy, reports from the field are falsified outright or doctored, and enemy radar is flooded with fake radar contacts. Many Alliance spy will recount the time when the enemy's command was thrown into panic upon receiving a fake report from the field that an Alliance Chronosphere was about to be activated.

Of course, commanders and command staff have come to grow wary of such attempts by the Alliance to spread disinformation, reducing the impact of such attacks. Even if the disinformation fails to trick the enemy, it can cause an enemy commander to hesitate and second-guess him or herself, which may still buy the Peacekeepers a valuable moment to inflict as much damage as possible.