Labels such as "psychological warfare," and "information warfare," or "hybrid warfare," and "political warfare" have appeared in recent years to reflect attempts to understand and frame how an adversary attempts to shape the minds and will of people toward a political end.  Matt Armstrong argues the U.S. has long struggled conceptually, organizationally, and practically on how to approach these and related issues as he argued the U.S. continually fails to properly arm itself for the cold reality of the political warfare waged against its interests. An absence of historical perspective and understanding suggests we will continue our missteps, if we take any steps at all. The U.S. Information Agency, created in 1953, is often held out as a symbol of success that should be recreated in some form, but it actually represented a failure in that it replaced an agency active during World War II that had a far broader portfolio, enjoyed greater authorities, and was already integrated into formulation and conduct of foreign policy, and it was not tasked with defending against foreign political warfare. What now?

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