Adversarial Meaning Injection Map (AMIM)

We talk about “information operations” like they’re downstream.

Messages, memes, influence campaigns.

But the most dangerous attacks on meaning don’t start in the narrative.

They start upstream, in the places we don’t monitor.

So I built the Adversarial Meaning Injection Map (AMIM).

AMIM is a map of the cognitive attack surface before a briefing, before a model output, before a commander ever sees a COP.

It breaks the pipeline into four layers:

1. Substrate Inputs - sensors, data feeds, raw collection
2. Context & Labeling - schemas, taxonomies, metadata
3. Interpretive Frames - doctrine, narratives, mental models
4. Decision Surfaces - dashboards, slides, decision aids

Across those layers, it tracks the stages we already know:

collect → filter → model → present.

Then it asks a simple question:

“Where could an adversary nudge meaning here so the whole thing bends later?”

AMIM doesn’t tell you how to manipulate anyone.
It shows you where you’re already vulnerable to being manipulated:

- biased collection points
- quietly skewed labels
– one-sided frames
– decision displays that hide drift

This is a defensive map.

If we’re going to take cognitive warfare seriously,
we can’t just watch what’s being said on the surface.

We have to chart every place an adversary can inject meaning upstream -
and put real defenses there.