Recent posts from a QAnon-backing Twitter handle with nearly 50,000 followers claimed that tens of thousands of Chinese troops had amassed along Maine’s border with Canada and that an F-16 fighter that crashed last week in Michigan was actually shot down — presumably by the Chinese.

(QAnon has, in recent years, become an increasingly dangerous conspiracy theory claiming, among other outlandish things, that President Donald Trump is fighting a horde of deep state pedophiles.)

While chatter about Chinese troops in Canada is steeped in fantasy, it is this kind of disinformation that presents a real threat, say a couple of experts in the information battlespace.

“This is in a sense information warfare,” Dave Lapan — a retired Marine colonel who served in several public affairs roles, including at the departments of defense and homeland security — told Military Times. “This is something we usually deal with from adversaries. And who knows? Some of this may be generated by our adversaries.”

If this information is not generated by them, it is at least amplified, said Lapan, adding that nations like China, Russia, North Korea and Iran “use social media to generate unrest” in the U.S.

“The gallery of adversaries are all involved in information warfare against us,” said Lapan, now vice president of communications for the Bipartisan Policy Center.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

On Monday, the Twitter handle @stormis_us posted that “The F-16 in Michigan was shot down and I now believe that 50,000 Chinese troops were in fact bombed and killed by anti-personnel bombs. At the Maine/Canadian border.”

The information seems farcical on its face, but the handle, which states “THE TRUTH and FACTS. A Warrior for GOD and Christ, #VETERAN, #WWG1WGAWORLDWIDE, #MAGA, #TRUMP2020, #Conservative” has nearly 50,000 followers, with more than a mere few believing this post.

And yet, not only are there no formations of Chinese troops in Canada, but the F-16, which belonged to the Wisconsin Air National Guard, crashed on a routine training mission Dec. 8, killing the pilot, Capt. Durwood “Hawk” Jones.

Other accounts used pictures of howitzers on a train in Maine, which first surfaced in October, as “proof” that the U.S. military was responding to a Chinese incursion into Canada — RUMINT that bubbled up via some delusional trainspotter that was then knocked down by the local CBS affiliate.

Still, some on Twitter suggested Monday reaching out to people in Jackman, Maine, a town about 16 miles from the Canadian border, to see what they know.

The answer, of course, is nothing.

“There have been no military conflicts in or around Jackman in the recent past,” Town Manager Victoria D. Forkus said in an email to Military Times.

The Maine National Guard also dispelled the conspiracy.

“The Maine National Guard has no knowledge of any such troop movement,” Army Maj. Carl Lamb, a spokesman for the Maine National Guard, told Military Times in response to questions about whether there were any Chinese troops stationed across the border.

As for the howitzers, the real story is hardly as compelling as armor being rushed to the border to stave off the ChiComs.

The Maine Military Authority, said Lamb, had been refurbishing the howitzers, but those operations ended two years ago.

“Recently, the federal government decided to move the howitzers out of Maine,” said Lamb. “MMA was contracted to deliver the equipment to Presque Isle for transport by rail to their final destination. MMA’s contractual storage obligations ended once the howitzers were delivered to Presque Isle for follow on transport.”

WHY THIS IS BAD

Officials from Capt. Jones’ unit, the 115th Fighter Wing, declined to talk about the effects of these conspiracy theories on his grieving family.

“Right now, we are focusing on supporting Capt. Jones’ family and our Wing as we lost a hero and a true patriot,” said Capt. Leslie Westmont, a wing public affairs officer. “Additionally, we are doing everything possible to assist and support the ongoing investigation.”

But beyond dragging a decorated combat veteran pilot into this mess, the danger in these kinds of conspiracy theories lies in the mistrust these posts sow, Lapan said.

He likened it to rumors about Jade Helm 15, a special operations training exercise five years ago. Conspiracy purveyor Alex Jones so twisted the info that folks in Texas were seriously worried about commandos gearing up to take over the country.

A more recent example, Lapan said, is how retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney spouted off about how U.S. spec ops troops were killed in a gun battle with the CIA in Germany over computer equipment associated with election fraud.

“In this current environment, you have a lack of credibility and mistrust,” said Lapan, adding that domestic public affairs personnel are now having to deal with the kinds of issues faced by their colleagues downrange.

This mistrust has been compounded, he said, by “so-called militias” and law enforcement dressed up like troops during recent public unrest across the nation.

“People in the public have the perception that the military is doing things that it is not actually doing.”

Victor Garcia, a retired Army colonel who most recently served as chief of information operations for U.S. Special Operations Command until winding down his career in June, agreed.

“The danger to this is that it actually causes people to doubt what the truth is,” said Garcia, who now does business development work for Northrup Grumman. “The ability to discern what is real and what is not is becoming increasingly more difficult.”

“I think there is an even bigger issue than discord and discontent,” said Garcia. “This causes paralysis in policy making, because when you have policy makers, ostensibly of the same nation — and I am not just speaking of the U.S. here — when you have this level of disagreement as to what are truly the facts, it paralyzes consensus building that leads to policy implementation.”

Garcia pointed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 as a real-world example of the effects of disinformation.

“I would offer that when you look at the response by some of our European partners to the Russian incursion into Ukraine, that is a perfect example of what I am talking about with policy paralysis,” he said. “Are they Russians? Ukrainian dissidents? Who do they belong to? How do we take action against Russia and what if we are wrong? They couldn’t form a consensus of what the facts were.”

Perhaps the best portrayal of the potential end result of all this is the March 4, 1960, “Twilight Zone” episode titled “The Monsters are due on Maple Street.”

Lapan agreed that the 60-year-old teleplay aptly captures the dangers of today’s information warfare battlespace.

“Even if our adversaries didn’t start these rumors, I am sure they are joyfully watching things like that spread to create division and conflict.”

During a force-wide town hall meeting Tuesday morning, Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged personnel to use proper cybersecurity hygiene, and be wary of emails from unknown origin that might include phishing or malware attempts.

On Monday, officials at the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command in Maryland issued guidelines for how personnel should protect information.

“We would like to take this opportunity to remind teleworking employees of your continuing responsibility to safeguard information while in use and at rest,” officials said on ATEC’s Facebook page. “Employees should always consider information being processed at home to be at increased risk of adversary targeting and collection.”

It is an issue of increasing importance as the number of military personnel testing positive continues to spike. As of Monday morning, 133 service members have tested positive for COVID-19, per data released daily by Esper’s office. There are 44 civilians, 35 dependents and 31 contractors also battling the virus, with 15 hospitalizations across the Defense Department and five recoveries so far.

A Crystal City-based contractor, who worked at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, passed away on March 21, Pentagon officials said. It was the first known case of a Defense Department employee dying after testing positive for COVID-19.

ATEC, which provides direct support to Army Futures Command and other Army leaders through developmental testing and evaluations, deals with a lot of sensitive information. So ATEC issued guidelines for how personnel should handle it.

Many are basic OPSEC rules, including properly signing on and off and locking computers when not in use.

The command is also recommending keeping sensitive documents covered using a folder or envelope when not in use and during transportation, only using government-furnished devices for communicating government-owned information, not printing from a government-issued laptop onto a home printer and not discarding work-related papers in the trash.

ATEC also issued a more ominous guideline.

“Be aware of your surroundings, family and friends within ‘earshot’ do not have a need to know,” said the Facebook posting. “Immediately report suspicious activity or suspected data loss to your security manager.”

The division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team deployed to Kuwait in early January as part of an emergency response to the region over heightened tensions with Iran.

“Families have reported instances where they have received unsolicited contact with some menacing messaging,” said Lt. Col. Mike Burns, a division spokesman.

“We have done several things to inform our paratroopers and families of these risks and ways that they can protect themselves,” Burns added. “I also personally spoke to the brigade [Familiy Readiness Group] leaders today.”

The 82nd has told family members to be vigilant and practice smart behavior online. Family members should check their social media settings and reference the U.S. Army’s social media handbook, Burns said. In addition to distributing social media pamphlets, the division has held information forums for families. Burns could not comment on the reports that WiFi access was suspended for brigade paratroopers in Kuwait.

Separately, two U.S. sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Military Times the WiFi access was suspended over fears of a potential hacking and leak of sensitive contact information. One defense source said the MWR network was compromised, that contacts were pulled from service member’s devices and family members have been getting threats and disturbing messages from hackers.

The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, said family members stateside have been getting threats and disturbing messages.

One of the messages obtained by Military Times appears to be a typical psychological operations-styled warning. It references Iran, but there is no indication it is actually a state-sponsored message.

“If you like your life and you want to see your family again, pack up your stuff right now and leave the Middle East. Go back to your country. You and your terrorist clown president brought nothing but terrorism,” the message reads. “You fools underestimate the power of Iran. The recent attack on your [expletive] bases was just a little taste of our power. By killing our general, you dug your own grave. Before having more dead bodies, just leave the region for good and never look back.”

The message was sent over Instagram by an account that used deceased Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani’s portrait as a profile picture. Soleimani was killed by a U.S. airstrike on Jan. 3 in Baghdad, Iraq.

Other messages included fake scenarios about kidnappings intended to scare family members. A separate official noted that some messages appear to look more like phishing attempts.

The extent of the possible compromise is unknown. One defense official said it’s unknown at this time when and where the potential hacking may have taken place.

But the Department of Homeland Security has warned that “Iran maintains a robust cyber program” and “is capable, at a minimum, of carrying out attacks with temporary disruptive effects.”

U.S. Central Command and Operation Inherent Resolve have yet to respond to requests for comment.

Roughly a brigade of 82nd Airborne troops deployed to Kuwait in early January as tensions with Iran mounted over rocket attacks in Iraq by Tehran’s proxies and attempts by Iran-backed Shia militias and their supporters to storm the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

The brigade took various security precautions before deploying by telling the paratroopers to leave behind personal communications devices, phones and laptops.

“Anything considered a personal electronic device. All those things,” Burns previously told Army Times. “But banned is a harsh word. The decision was made so soldiers weren’t put at risk.”

The decision was intended to both ensure that sensitive information pertaining to the deployment and mission was not shared outside official channels, and also to prevent any potential cyberattacks against the soldiers.