Call for Papers: American Behavioral Scientist Special Issue on Pre-Internet Military Networks July 16, 2025 The *American Behavioral Scientist* (ABS), a leading peer-reviewed journal in the social and behavioral sciences, has announced a call for papers for a special issue titled *“Survey of a Cluster of Pre-Internet Networks.”* Sociology Group is pleased to share this significant scholarly opportunity with our community of researchers, writers, and readers. This guest-edited issue of the American Behavioral Scientist is scheduled for publication once enough articles have been accepted to cover a major portion of the networks listed below, with next year as the target timeframe for release. This special issue will explore how Cold War-era military communication networks prefigured today’s globally networked digital systems. These were experimental systems built primarily for counterinsurgency, political control, and surveillance during the 1960s and 1970s – long before the internet became publicly available. Often unclassified yet overlooked, these infrastructures laid the groundwork for many of the tools and ideologies that govern digital life today.. The issue is guest edited by *Dr. Noel Packard* (University of Auckland, New Zealand) and *Dr. Bradley Simpson* (University of Connecticut), two scholars whose work engages deeply with questions of surveillance, militarization, and historical memory. ------------------------------ *Cold War Networks Before the Internet* The project surveys a specific group of Cold War communication and data systems, each developed under U.S. military or intelligence direction and implemented across multiple geopolitical regions. These include: - *COINTELPRO* and *CHAOS* (United States) - *CORDS* and the *Phoenix Program* (Vietnam) - *Operation Condor* (Southern Cone of South America) - *ORDEN* (El Salvador) - *Jakarta Operations* (Indonesia) - *OBAN / DOI-CODI* (Brazil) These systems shared common features: they employed advanced communication technologies, gathered and centralized sensitive intelligence, and assisted military or paramilitary actors in neutralizing perceived political threats. In many cases, they operated as two-part programs – facilitating both economic restructuring along neoliberal lines and violent repression of dissent. This ABS issue seeks to examine these networks as historical, static “test cases” of early networked societies that can be compared to today’s dynamic, globally interconnected world. By having these historical “test-case” networks to compare and contrast with today’s inter-networked systems, we gain insight into how societies coped with surveillance states in the past and what they can teach us about life in a global digital society today. By revisiting these Cold War cases, the editors hope to contribute new historical and theoretical insights to ongoing discussions about surveillance, digital power, and media infrastructures in contemporary society. ------------------------------ *Areas of Focus for Contributors* The editors invite contributions from scholars working in sociology, history, media studies, political science, and related disciplines. Potential areas of focus include: - The communication technologies and hardware that enabled these networks - The visibility (or lack thereof) of these systems to the public - Their institutional design and staffing - The role these systems played in enforcing neoliberal economic agendas - Their impact on inequality, political polarization, and civil liberties - Methodological or theoretical frameworks used to study such historical systems This is an opportunity to contribute to a rare comparative analysis of state-led networked communication systems from the pre-Internet era — systems that have shaped the modern digital landscape in ways still not fully understood. ------------------------------ *An Open Opportunity: ORDEN in El Salvador* As part of the call, the editors have noted that the topic of *ORDEN (Organización Democrática Nacionalista) in El Salvador* remains open for contribution. Dr. Noel Packard had begun initial work on this subject but shifted focus due to changes in the contributor pool. Importantly, she has received permission from human rights scholar *Michael McClintock* to quote from his influential book *The American Connection: State Terror and Popular Resistance in El Salvador*. This is not a personal request, but rather an open invitation for a qualified contributor to develop an article using McClintock’s materials and other historical sources. Researchers in Latin American studies, political violence, or Cold War history may find this a valuable and timely subject. ------------------------------ *Submission Guidelines* Interested authors are invited to submit the following: - A *500-word abstract* (in English) - A *brief bio-statement ( 200-300 words) * Submissions and inquiries should be directed to lead editor *Dr. Noel Packard*: *npac825@aucklanduni.ac.nz <npac825@aucklanduni.ac.nz>* *Deadline for abstract submissions: 1 October 2025* Submissions will be considered on a rolling basis. The publication timeline for accepted papers will begin in *December 2025* and extend into *2026*. ------------------------------ *About the Editors* *Dr. Noel Packard*, affiliated with the University of Auckland, focuses on media systems, communication history, and surveillance society. Her work includes the presentation *Making Internet History More Visible* and a timeline infographic titled *Demarcated Timeline of Military Pre-Internet Test Networks*. *Dr. Bradley Simpson* is Associate Professor of History and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of *Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960–1968* and leads a declassification initiative at the National Security Archive focused on Indonesia and East Timor under Suharto. ------------------------------ *About the Journal* *American Behavioral Scientist* has been publishing cutting-edge work in the social sciences since 1957. Each of its fourteen annual issues is guest edited and thematically focused. The journal provides a platform for in-depth, interdisciplinary research and is published by *SAGE*. For more information, visit: 🔗 https://journals.sagepub.com/home/abs <https://journals.sagepub.com/home/abs> ------------------------------ *At Sociology Group, we are committed to spotlighting emerging research opportunities that challenge conventional narratives and help scholars re-examine the systems that shape our world. This call for papers invites meaningful historical reflection and contemporary critique — and we encourage interested researchers to consider submitting.* ------------------------------ [image: Sociology Group] Sociology Group <https://www.sociologygroup.com/author/rajan/> We believe in sharing knowledge with everyone and making a positive change in society through our work and contributions. If y