Military deception

Military deception is the planned use of misleading information, actions, or signals to influence an adversary’s decisions about friendly capabilities, intentions, or operations.

Deception plan: A coordinated scheme for presenting misleading indicators to influence an adversary’s decisions. It aligns false signals with the decision the operation seeks to induce.
Operation Bodyguard: The Allied deception program that concealed the target and timing of the 1944 invasion of France. Its interlocking false plans diverted German attention from Normandy.
Military intelligence: Information and analysis about foreign forces, conditions, and intentions used for military decisions. Deception targets the intelligence process through which adversaries assess friendly forces.
Military concealment: Measures that prevent an adversary from detecting military forces, activities, or information. Concealment withholds evidence; deception presents evidence intended to produce a false belief.
Military feint: A simulated military action intended to draw an adversary away from the intended operation. A feint makes a false operational intention visible through apparent action.
Operation Fortitude: The part of Operation Bodyguard that suggested an Allied invasion would target Pas-de-Calais or Norway. It encouraged German forces to remain poised against the wrong invasion locations.
Military misinformation: False or inaccurate information circulated in military contexts, whether deliberately or not. Deliberately planted misinformation can supply content for a deception effort.
Military camouflage: Techniques that conceal or disguise military personnel, equipment, or positions from observation. Camouflage can support deception, but concealment alone need not create a false interpretation.
Military decoy: An object or signal designed to be mistaken for a real military asset. Decoys create misleading evidence about the location or strength of forces.
Operation Mincemeat: A British deception operation that used fabricated documents on a corpse to misdirect Axis forces in 1943. The forged papers supplied seemingly personal evidence for a false Allied target.

Linked from 20 pages