EdgeTheory

Narrative is a measurable, actionable layer of intelligence—not just communication. We look forward to hosting a diverse group of leaders—from the U.S. government to the commercial sector—to advance this mission together. #CognitiveWarfare #NarrativeIntelligence

EdgeTheory’s latest report examines the coordinated Russian Matryoshka bot network's malign influence campaign of February 2026. It combines cross-platform narrative analysis, network amplification mapping, and visual-content forensics to assess how orchestrated actors manufacture credibility, manipulate public perception, and inject politically charged narratives into mainstream discourse. High-profile scandals - such as the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein - are frequently repurposed to discredit Western political leaders. These campaigns integrate bot networks, fabricated media artifacts, and synchronized cross-platform dissemination, demonstrating the growing sophistication of Russian influence operations in the digital information environment. Get the detailed analysis: zurl.co/pwVhi #InformationWarfare #CognitiveWarfare #Disinformation #RussianInfluence #AI #NarrativeIntelligence #CyberSecurity #Geopolitics

A tourist films a missile. The video disappears. The narrative remains. This short note from @Shanaka86 highlights a reality of today’s information environment: Perception moves faster than events. That’s why narrative intelligence matters. @shanakaanslemperera/note/c-227507757" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack.com/@shanakaanslem…

Cyber incidents rarely begin with a crisis. They begin with a signal. - A vulnerability disclosure. - A technical advisory. - A quiet warning buried in cybersecurity media. In EdgeTheory’s latest Narrative Intelligence report, we examine how a critical cybersecurity vulnerability in BeyondTrust remote-access software evolved into a ransomware breach affecting the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Our analysis shows how modern ransomware incidents develop across the information environment long before operational disruption occurs. In this case, cybersecurity reporting identified exploitation risks nearly ten days before the hospital breach became public. Recognizing these early narrative signals can give organizations valuable time to reduce operational and reputational risk. Get the detailed analysis: zurl.co/zz4WU #CyberSecurity #NarrativeIntelligence #ThreatIntelligence #RiskManagement #CyberRisk #Ransomware #EdgeTheory

Iraq has become an active front in the US-Israeli war with Iran following US strikes on Iran-backed militia Kata’ib Hezbollah on 28 February. The strike prompted retaliatory attacks while Iraq’s political parties remain unable to form a government. EdgeTheory’s narrative intelligence detects escalation signals and rising narrative volume tied to militia retaliation and regional reactions following the strikes on Iran. These indicators point to deepening instability that could further destabilize Iraq’s Shi’a-dominated political system Get the detailed analysis: zurl.co/9v3QF #NarrativeIntelligence #Geopolitics #Iran #Iraq #RiskIntelligence #EdgeTheory

The Kerman bombings demonstrate how violent incidents function simultaneously as operational acts and narrative inflection points. This EdgeTheory report analyzes the 3 January 2024 bombing in Kerman as both a mass casualty attack and a catalytic information event that triggered an immediate information contest over attribution and strategic meaning. ISIS K framed the bombing as a sectarian strike against a Shia ritual gathering, while Iranian authorities embedded the event within their axis of resistance narrative and broader confrontation with Israel and the United States. Presented as a historical case study using NARINT, the analysis illustrates how competing actors shape narratives across the information environment following high-impact geopolitical events. Get the detailed analysis here: zurl.co/8OghZ #EdgeTheory #NarrativeIntelligence #NARINT #InformationEnvironment #ISISK #Iran #Geopolitics #OSINT #StrategicIntelligence

This EdgeTheory Narrative Insight report examines how political legitimacy was contested in real time following the February 28, 2026, US-Israeli strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader and senior IRGC officials. Drawing on cross-platform collection including Telegram, X, state-aligned media, diaspora networks, and diplomatic channels, the report tracks how narratives fragmented within minutes of the strike as competing frames took shape. The analysis shows how AI-generated imagery, recycled combat footage, religious symbolism, and coordinated state messaging accelerated distrust and conflict aversion narratives, shaping perception before verification cycles stabilized. The event illustrates how modern military operations unfold across kinetic and informational domains, where legitimacy is contested in real time. Get the detailed analysis: zurl.co/LkJ1O #EdgeTheory #NarrativeIntelligence #InformationWarfare #Geopolitics #Iran #IranNews #MiddleEast #StrategicCommunications

This EdgeTheory Lab Narrative Intelligence Report analyzes the information environment surrounding the Coordinating Framework’s nomination of Nouri Al-Maliki for a third term as Iraq’s prime minister. Rather than treating Al-Maliki’s nomination as a simple political development, the report shows how competing narratives are shaping perceptions of legitimacy, sovereignty, instability, and Iranian influence - with real consequences for Iraq’s government formation process and regional security posture. The report examines narrative volume spikes following the January 24 nomination announcement, emotional tone analysis highlighting elevated anger and sadness, amplification patterns, geopolitical risk implications, including U.S. pressure and Iranian influence, and instability scenarios, including potential Sunni political withdrawal and Shi’a intra-coalition fractures. Get the detailed analysis: zurl.co/ysJT5 #Geopolitics #IraqPolitics #RegionalSecurity #PoliticalRisk #NarrativeIntelligence #OSINT #NationalSecurity

This EdgeTheory Narrative Intelligence report examines how the Islamic State has transformed from a territorial insurgency into an AI-enabled digital recruitment network - leveraging synthetic media, automated chat systems, and emotionally targeted propaganda to accelerate radicalization across global platforms. The analysis shows how AI-generated news anchors, deepfake imagery, and instructional chatbot manuals are altering recruitment pipelines, with messaging shifting from territorial triumph to psychological endurance and decentralized affiliates sustaining global relevance through narrative dominance rather than territorial control. Get the detailed analysis: zurl.co/OMyW6 #NarrativeIntelligence #InformationEnvironment #CognitiveWarfare #NationalSecurity #PSYOP #Deepfakes #AI #IslamicState

The Islamic State no longer needs territory to project influence. edgetheory.com/resources/isla… #narrativeintelligence #cognitivewarfare

This EdgeTheory report synthesizes geospatial, narrative attribution, and network analysis surrounding Chinese military activity around Taiwan in late December 2025 and early January 2026, with a focus on the large-scale "Justice Mission 2025" exercises. Drawing from multi-platform collection streams—including websites, social media actors, RSS feeds, and X posts—the brief maps how competing narratives about PLA drills, deterrence signaling, sovereignty assertion, and regional escalation propagate across the global information environment. The report employs EdgeTheory's network-detection, emotion-classification, and narrative-amplification tools to trace how state-affiliated amplifiers and security monitors reinforce messaging—highlighting how information power and emotional framing shape perceptions of risk in the Asia-Pacific. Get the detailed analysis: zurl.co/m5J4l #EdgeTheory #NarrativeIntelligence #GeopoliticalRisk #Taiwan #China #PLA #InformationWarfare #OSINT #NetworkAnalysis

Military operations and information operations are deliberately synchronized to legitimize sustained coercion. Full @EdgeTheory report here: edgetheory.com/resources/xis-… #NarrativeIntelligence #CognitiveWarfare #Taiwan

This EdgeTheory Narrative Intelligence report examines how vaccine-related narratives are constructed, amplified, and escalated across ideologically distinct U.S. media ecosystems—revealing how identical health signals produce sharply different interpretations, pressures, and behavioral responses. Drawing on parallel narrative briefs covering the same time window, the analysis traces how measles outbreaks, CDC guideline changes, flu severity, legal challenges, and global health developments are framed differently depending on the source ecosystem and audience identity. Rather than evaluating medical accuracy or public health policy, the report focuses on how meaning is assigned, where emotional pressure accumulates, and why narrative momentum often precedes measurable shifts in trust, behavior, and institutional response. By mapping narrative themes, emotional framing, escalation patterns, and source alignment, the report shows why vaccine narratives are not fixed problems to correct—but dynamic environments organizations must understand and navigate in high-scrutiny markets where perception moves faster than data. Detailed analysis here: zurl.co/NwxJQ #NarrativeIntelligence #VaccineNarratives #PublicTrust #MediaEcosystems #InformationWarfare #DecisionMaking

EdgeTheory is proud to see this important work on cognitive warfare and targeting logic featured in Small Wars Journal. The article reinforces the urgent need to evolve how the nation understands and competes in the cognitive domain. We’re also excited to welcome John Wilcox to EdgeTheory through the DoD SkillBridge program, where he’ll help advance our mission. EdgeTheory continues to pioneer and support how the nation develops, measures, and applies cognitive warfare at scale. Read more: zurl.co/iMwWh Learn more about EdgeTheory: zurl.co/tB05O Request a demo: zurl.co/P3Gqy #CognitiveWarfare #SkillBridge #NationalSecurity #EdgeTheory

The Thailand - Cambodia border conflict illustrates how modern disputes are increasingly shaped by narrative dynamics rather than battlefield outcomes alone. This EdgeTheory analysis examines how external actors exploited competing narratives to influence blame, legitimacy, and mediation efforts, transforming a regional conflict into a proxy information contest. As nationalist Thai and Cambodian messaging intensified, pro-Chinese narratives positioned Beijing as a stabilizing mediator, shifting attention away from attribution and toward inevitability and optics. Using geospatial narrative tracing, network analysis, and emotion profiling, the report maps how narratives were amplified across media, diplomatic channels, and social platforms to polarize audiences, obscure responsibility, and normalize external influence. The findings reinforce a growing reality: when the information environment is contested, escalation, mediation, and resolution are increasingly determined by who controls the narrative - not who controls the ground. Get the report today: zurl.co/vELIH #NarrativeControl #StrategicNarratives #InformationEnvironment #HybridWarfare #GeopoliticalRisk #AsiaPacific #ConflictAnalysis #SecurityStudies

This EdgeTheory Narrative Analysis examines the 2026 Iranian protest movement through the lens of information warfare, foreign influence, and narrative control - revealing how perceptions of unrest, legitimacy, and escalation are actively shaped in the global information environment. Rather than disputing events directly, coordinated narratives worked to control interpretation, recasting economic grievances as foreign interference and shaping legitimacy, responsibility, and repression long before events could be independently verified. Get the report now: zurl.co/8SPyo #NarrativeIntelligence #InformationWarfare #CognitiveWarfare #Iran #InfluenceOperations

This EdgeTheory Narrative Analysis examines how power is consolidated in Iraq after elections—through post-election negotiations and coordinated narrative control—viewed through the lens of Iranian influence. The report analyzes how Iran-aligned political actors moved quickly following the recent elections to shape legitimacy—treating the vote as a procedural step, not the decisive moment. As results settled, coordinated post-election narratives shifted attention away from electoral outcomes and toward coalition formation, procedural milestones, and claims of inevitability. Rather than contesting results directly, these narratives worked to define how government formation would be understood and accepted. The analysis details how post-election narratives were: - Coordinated across party-affiliated media, political messaging, and aligned networks - Reinforced during key negotiation and parliamentary moments - Structured to marginalize election winners and normalize coalition-driven outcomes By shaping narratives around inevitability, stability, and consensus, post-election negotiations become the real arena of power. 🔗 Read the full analysis now: zurl.co/UqfLB #NarrativeIntelligence #CognitiveWarfare #InformationOperations #InfluenceOperations #IraqPolitics #MiddleEast #IranianInfluence #GeopoliticalRisk #EdgeTheory

“Every dollar, whether it may be in a lab, in a startup, or in a classified shop, must exist to deliver one of three things: game-changing technology, scalable products, or new ways of fighting.” @PeteHegseth -- @EdgeTheory delivers all three.

EdgeTheory’s new report uncovers, using EdgeTheory’s narrative classification and amplification tools, geospatial narrative mapping, narrative attribution, and emotion and network analysis of coordinated Russian and Chinese information operations surrounding the U.S. military capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, showing how state-aligned, proxy, and influence-for-hire networks reinforce emotionally charged narratives to undermine U.S. credibility, fracture allied cohesion, and normalize a sphere-of-influence global order. zurl.co/WQz8y #EdgeTheory #CognitiveWarfare #InformationOperations #NarrativeIntelligence #Geopolitics #Disinformation #NationalSecurity

Supporting the 2026 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), we’re working with 8th POG to train special operations forces on AI and cognitive warfare. We thank COL Robert Cusick, CSM Casey Kendall, Joe Stradinger, Nate Flake, Dr. Doowan Lee, and Dan Brookes for making this possible. The NDAA explicitly calls out cognitive warfare as an urgent strategic priority. It underscores how strategic competitors and malign actors such as the Chinese Communist Party and the Kremlin weaponize AI and perceptions in the cognitive domain as a decisive space for competition. It’s not limited to just the competition phase. It shapes and decides the full spectrum of conflict. It acknowledges a problem many practitioners have felt for years. We lack shared definitions and strategic clarity. Information warfare, information operations, cyber, influence, and cognitive warfare are still routinely conflated, blurring roles, authorities, and investment decisions. This is even more critical in the age of AI. NCNI and EdgeTheory lead the way our nation advances AI and cognitive warfare. We advance AI-powered tools and techniques to support our nation in competing and dominating in the cognitive domain. Learn more about EdgeTheory’s AI training: edgetheory.com Request a demo: zurl.co/m7WZS Learn more about the NDAA: zurl.co/63Xwa