Embracing Emerging Tech To Educate Tomorrow's Officers

Cognitive warfare targets perception and decision-making, yet officer training lacks the operational constructs that structure kinetic or cyber operations. This doctrinal gap leads to fragmented detection, weak attribution, and curricula that prioritise procedural certainty over adaptive judgment in the face of ambiguity. This article introduces the Cognitive Defence Cycle (CDC), an operational model mapping cognitive attack phases—reconnaissance, weaponisation, delivery, exploitation, action on objective—to measurable indicators and simulation-based training interventions. Drawing on constructivist epistemology, the CDC reframes ambiguity as exploitable terrain rather than detection failure.