← Back to Resources

Connor Marr

November 3, 2025

The Cognitive War over Counter-Narcotics Operations: Narrative Intelligence Reveals Networks of Global Adversarial Actors

This EdgeTheory report compiles a multi-source analysis of counter-narcotics operations across Latin America and the Caribbean, integrating narrative intelligence, geospatial data, and media signal mapping to trace the evolution of a rapidly developing regional dynamic. EdgeTheory’s narrative classifiers and geospatial analytics examine how U.S. military actions against alleged drug trafficking vessels intersect with information flows and public framing.

October 28, 2025

Shadows of the Sea: Narrative Intelligence on Russia's Shadow Fleet

This report synthesizes findings from EdgeTheory’s Global Cognitive Adversaries module and traces the emergence, evolution, and militarization of Moscow’s “shadow fleet.” A vast network of aging oil tankers reflagged, concealed through opaque ownership, and deployed to circumvent Western sanctions. Drawing from both state-linked and open-source amplifiers, this brief situates the shadow fleet within Russia’s broader cognitive, economic, and geopolitical strategy, where information narratives and physical logistics converge to sustain wartime revenue and undermine Western enforcement.

October 21, 2025

Cognitive Warfare in Moldova: Narrative Intelligence on Russian Propaganda Tactics and Vulnerabilities

Russia’s cognitive operations in Moldova represent a sustained attempt to destabilize European security through hybrid influence. Moscow employs NGOs, oligarch funding, crypto wallets, and digital brigades to push competing narratives aimed at confusing, overwhelming, and eroding trust in institutions. Online amplification magnifies minor actions into apparent strategic pressure points. However, the campaign’s impact is limited: Moldova’s small population, high media literacy among key audiences, and strong Western-aligned institutions have constrained Russia’s ability to decisively shape outcomes, reducing the overall effectiveness of these influence operations.

October 17, 2025

AI Attacks on the US Economy: Narrative Intelligence Detects Cognitive Attacks on Businesses and Provides Protective Measures

Synthetic media represents a new class of technological disruption with both economic and national security implications. The capacity to algorithmically generate realistic yet fabricated content—whether images, videos, or voice—has outpaced traditional verification mechanisms across financial systems, labor markets, and public trust domains. This paper examines the emerging intersection between synthetic media technologies and the stability of the U.S. economy. It integrates intelligence-style analysis, focusing on pattern recognition, cognitive security, and systemic vulnerabilities within digital markets.

October 3, 2025

Party Fault Lines Exposed: Narrative Intelligence Surfaces Cracks in Xi’s Authority

This report examines the evolving contestation of Xi Jinping’s authority within the Chinese Communist Party and across the broader political system. While Xi has amassed unprecedented personal power, recent developments highlight growing fractures: military purges that weaken his base, the re-emergence of sidelined factions, the subtle pushback of Party elders, and the erosion of his dominance in state media. By synthesizing reporting, narrative mapping, and geopolitical analysis, this paper traces how EdgeTheory’s Narrative Intelligence is tracking challenges against Xi Jinping from elites, institutions, and citizens in China.

September 5, 2025

Whispers of Dissent: Narrative Intelligence Suggests Cracks in Xi Jinping’s Power

Xi Jinping’s authority in 2025 is defined by sharp contrasts between projection and perception. His doctrine of national rejuvenation is reinforced through ideology, military demonstrations, and international summits, yet parallel narratives point to fractures inside the CCP, unrest among younger generations, and Zhang Youxia’s growing influence within the PLA. The convergence of these storylines signals that Xi’s position is no longer viewed as unassailable but instead contested across multiple domains, where loyalty campaigns, elite gatherings, and symbolic events serve as measures of his resilience or decline.

August 28, 2025

Multipolar AI Competition: A New Frontier of Cognitive Warfare

Artificial intelligence and semiconductor supremacy are rapidly becoming the most critical aspect of geopolitics. Global powers are engaged in a multidimensional struggle of AI & microchip supremacy. This report decodes the interplay between state-led initiatives and Global Cognitive Adversaries (GCA) campaigns that aim to shape perception, policy, and partnerships across key regions. By analyzing the US AI Action Plan, China’s model of technological self-reliance, and India’s expanding semiconductor agenda, it identifies critical zones of competition and alignment.

GCA actors reframe national actions, cast doubt on legitimacy, and amplify alternative governance models. The Global South, BRICS, and non-aligned digital arenas have become testing grounds for competing visions of technological modernity. The following paper unpacks how these forces are shaping a multipolar, digitally fragmented world.

The Tyrant's Will, The Brother's Guise: the CCP’s Coordinated Campaign to Legitimize Forceful Reunification

Foreign Malign Influencers (FMIs) serve as key narrative accelerants in China’s hybrid warfare, shaping perceptions strategically ahead of kinetic military movements—especially regarding a potential invasion of Taiwan. Leveraging EdgeTheory’s narrative intelligence tools, this brief tracks how FMIs across Weibo, Rednote, and state-aligned media intensify discussions about PLA invasion scenarios, highlighting China’s efforts to justify and normalize escalation while framing Taiwan’s resistance narratives as illegitimate. Through detailed analysis of rhetorical velocity, thematic cadence, and sentiment analysis, this brief provides an analytic framework to detect narrative operations in the Indo-Pacific information battlespace, emphasizing shifting perceptions within the cross-strait context and regional security environment.

AI-Powered Narrative Intelligence For Decision Advantage

Detect, Assess, Shape

Careers Terms of Service Privacy Policy