Narrative Defense Under Brandolini's Law
A lie costs seconds. The correction costs hours.Every communications desk, counterintelligence cell and trust and safety team lives inside one ratio: refuting a false claim takes far more effort than making it. Fight claim by claim and the math beats you. Treadstone 71 teaches you to operate above the claim, where defensive effort earns a return.
21 VIDEO LESSONS21 WORKSHEETS40-SOURCE LIBRARYUP TO 12 CPEBrandolini's rule of thumb: refuting nonsense takes an order of magnitude more energy than producing it.
About 8 CPE for the video and assessment core. Up to 12 with every worksheet complete.
Watch the math decide the fight.
An adversary pushes claims into an audience at the speed of a post. Your team answers at the speed of research. Run it claim by claim, then switch to operating above the claim and watch the cost move.
Illustrative model, not field data. Each claim costs the attacker 6 minutes. Answering one costs the defender an hour, the 10-to-1 ratio Brandolini named. Claim by claim, the team owes an answer to every claim. Above the claim, the team spends 20 hours up front on a pre-bunked frame, then answers only breaches that reach priority audience nodes. Sections 3 to 5 of the course teach that approach.
Stop chasing claims. Start pricing them.
Explain the losing trade
Show why one-to-one debunking loses and where analyst effort earns the most belief.
Read the carrier
Map how emotion, identity and repetition carry a false claim further than its facts.
Answer the weight
Respond to a narrative's overall weight instead of chasing each point inside it.
Set a threshold
Build a response threshold, a triage method and a rhythm your team sustains for months.
Speak as one voice
Pick high-value targets, coordinate across teams and platforms, and measure belief change.
Drill it
Run the plan through simulation and role play, then tighten it after every exercise.
Make it last
Write a long-term defense plan that scales, and keep a habit of deliberate practice.
Seven sections. Twenty-one lessons.
Every lesson ships as a narrated video with a worksheet. Pick a section to see its lessons.
Built for the people who answer back.
No special background required. The methods work against any hostile narrative, from any source, and the course takes no partisan side. Enrollment is open to students in the United States, NATO and EU member states, and allied nations, and Treadstone 71 verifies every enrollment.
From the course to the live fight.
The course builds the skill. Treadstone 71 services put that skill under pressure against your own organization's story.
Narrative Defense Under Brandolini's Law
Self-paced course. 21 lessons, 21 worksheets, a 40-source library. $1,199, up to 12 CPE.
ENROLL ON THE TRAINING CENTER → STEP 2 // EXERCISENarrative Threat Emulation: 1-Day Sprint
A red cell runs adversary narratives against your business for one workday. Your Blue Cell of 10 to 20 detects, attributes and counters, then briefs leadership with an after-action report.
SEE THE SPRINT → STEP 3 // INOCULATEStrategic Narrative Inoculation Sprint
Ten business days before a milestone such as an M&A closing: stakeholder vulnerability mapping, adversary vector modeling, pre-bunking assets and a 14-day narrative sentinel. $28,000 fixed fee.
SEE THE INOCULATION SPRINT → STEP 4 // WATCHCognitive Warfare Monitor
Ongoing watch on the narratives aimed at your organization, so the next wave arrives on your clock instead of theirs.
SEE THE MONITOR →Services, tools and training that pair with it.
Services
Decision tools
Training
Jeff Bardin
FOUNDER AND CHIEF INTELLIGENCE OFFICER, TREADSTONE 71
Fourteen years of US military service across the Air Force and Army, enlisted and officer: cryptologic linguist, then armored scout platoon leader. Builder of the cyber intelligence, cyber counterintelligence and cybercrime programs at Utica University. Author of The Mind Domain and Tradecraft at Machine Speed.
Woman-owned, veteran-led cyber and strategic intelligence training and consulting since 2002. Clients include critical infrastructure operators across the United States, Europe, Australia, Singapore and the Middle East.
Team seats, private cohorts or the full catalog for your organization: contact Treadstone 71 or see Subscription Training Services.
Questions answered.
What is Brandolini's Law?
A rule of thumb Italian software developer Alberto Brandolini stated in 2013: the energy needed to refute nonsense runs an order of magnitude above the energy needed to produce it. Brandolini's Law is a heuristic, not a measured constant, and the course treats it that way.
Who is the course for?
Intelligence and counterintelligence analysts, strategic communication and public affairs staff, trust and safety teams, OSINT practitioners, policy advisors, crisis-response leads, and election-integrity teams.
What background do I need?
None beyond working experience with information, communications or analysis. The course builds from the ratio itself to a full defense plan.
How is the course delivered?
Self-paced and on demand through the Treadstone 71 Cyber Intelligence Training Center: 21 narrated video lessons across seven sections, a worksheet for every lesson, and a resources library of about 40 linked sources.
Does the course carry CPE?
Yes. About 8 CPE for the video and assessment core, and up to 12 with every worksheet complete. Treadstone 71 issues a certificate of completion for you to report to your certifying body, such as ISC2 or ISACA.
Is the methodology partisan?
No. The methods apply to any hostile narrative regardless of source, sponsor or politics.
How does the course connect to Treadstone 71 services?
The course trains individuals. The Narrative Threat Emulation 1-Day Sprint exercises a whole team against a live red cell, and the Strategic Narrative Inoculation Sprint protects a specific milestone. Many clients train first, then exercise.
Change the exchange rate.
$1,199. Up to 12 CPE. Self-paced, with a worksheet for every lesson.
