Over 20 years, Dr. Helmus has produced foundational research on influence operations, AI threats, and counter-extremism that has shaped policy, informed legislation, and driven operational impact.
Publications & Research
Feature Publication
Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theaters of Operation
The landmark report that introduced private-sector branding, audience segmentation, and customer satisfaction principles to military strategic communications. Enlisting Madison Avenue helped the U.S. Government access private-sector marketing talent for influence operations and became a foundational reference for a generation of military IO professionals. The publication's core methodology — applying behavioral science and commercial marketing frameworks to military campaigns — remains the intellectual foundation of Meridian Influence Group's approach to IO strategy.
Select Publications
Artificial Intelligence, Deepfakes, and Disinformation: A Primer
RAND Corporation, 2022 | 32,000+ downloads | 165+ citations
Foundational resource used across the national security and technology communities to understand AI-generated threats to information integrity.
Generative AI Threats to Democracy and Potential Policy Responses
RAND Corporation, 2024
Guided U.S. Senate deliberations on regulatory initiatives to address generative AI risks to democratic institutions and information ecosystems.
Russian Social Media Influence: Understanding Russian Propaganda in Eastern Europe
RAND Corporation, 2018 | 75,000 Downloads | 350+ Citations
Established new methodology for measuring the impact of social media influence operations. Research contributed to personal sanctions by the Russian Federation in 2022.
RAND Program Evaluation Toolkit for Countering Violent Extremism
RAND Corporation, 2017 | Mandated by DHS
Created the national standard for measuring CVE program effectiveness. Mandated by the Department of Homeland Security for all terrorism prevention grant recipients.
Examining ISIS Support and Opposition Networks on Twitter
RAND Corporation, 2016
Pioneered the integration of community detection algorithms with lexical fingerprinting for scaled adversary network identification on social media platforms.
Total Research Impact
3,000+
academic citations
500,000+
downloads across all publications
50+
published reports and analyses
A complete list of publications is available
Interested in a briefing on these topics?
Dr. Helmus is available for speaking engagements, expert briefings, and advisory consultations on any of the research areas represented here.