Challenges to national defence in contemporary geopolitical situation

Hacktivism is a social phenomena which evokes different social assessments. The definitions of a term differ in many respects. This theoretical model of hacktivism has not yet been implemented into an empirical strategy for sociological research. The paper describes the the main initiatives taken by Anonymous collective during the 2014 conflict in Ukraine, which is considered by many researchers to be the first stage of preparation for the war triggered by Russia in 2022. Author analyses the collective’s activity in 2022, after the war started, in order to identify similarities and differences in the creation of information messages about the situation. The comparative analysis covers information published in Anonymous’ tweets and selected online news services. She asks the question about the possible consequences of Anonymous actions in the open cyber field for the social moods around the world. To what extent these media messages and their construction have reflected the social perception and/or social attitudes towards Russia’s aggression? The theoretic explorations were embedded mainly on two methods: criticism of writing and the analytical and comparative one.

The Voluntary National Defense Service (VNDS) of Lithuania was established in 17 January 1991 and began to operate in a difficult political and economic situation in the presence of Russian military forces deployed in Lithuania. The VNDS was tasked with ensuring the security of important state and economic entities, assisting the police in maintaining public order and territorial defense, as well as carrying out intelligence tasks throughout Lithuania. The main aim of the paper is to analyze the creation of military intelligence by the VNDS and the tasks they conducted from 1991 to 1993. Various methods were used to analyze the VNDS: case study, historical analysis, comparative historical, document analysis, data analysis and statistical content analysis. The paper establishes that the VNDS intelligence gathering structure and its development was influenced by the intelligence tasks assigned to the VNDS. The case study also reveals that the main function of the VNDS staff consisted of intelligence information gathering. In 1991, according to the VNDS standby logs analyzed in this study, 56 percent of information registered by the VNDS staff consisted of intelligence information and this information was gathered across 82 percent of Lithuanian districts. According to the data gathered in this study, it was proven that the VNDS was conducting military intelligence from 1991 to 1993. The case study is even more relevant since the current day Lithuanian Armed Forces are returning to the national territorial defense model due to the changes in current geopolitical situation. In the future, the role of the National Defense Volunteer Force (the NDVF), equivalent to the previous VNDS, will increase significantly, as the Commander of the Lithuanian Armed Forces has appointed these forces to carry out intelligence tasks for military operations.

This paper is focused on the current state of opinions and positions on issues of education and development of commanders within the Lithuanian and Austrian Armed Forces. The contribution presents the results of a questionnaire survey entitled „Analysis of current situation, opinions and attitudes to the issue of education and development of military commanders (managers) of chosen subjects in subordination of the National Defence System of Lithuania“and „Analysis of current situation (opinions, attitudes) of the issue of education and developmet of managers (military leaders) of chosen subjects in subordination of the Austrian Armed Forces“. The selected areas provide a current overview of the opinions and attitudes of the views of awareness and opportunities for consultation, development of managerial skills and leadership managing at the beginning effect on the function, development needs, barriers, educational and development activities attendance and integration of new elements to training. Attention is paid to the methodology of Crew Resouce Management from a civilian and military point of view, its history, focus, aplication, etc. This paper focuses on the use of CRM at United States Navy and Marine Corps, United States Air Force, United States Army, United States Coast Guard and other world´s military services.