Alex W. Joske is a Chinese-Australian author, sinologist, open-source intelligence researcher, and risk consultant who investigates the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), particularly its influence operations. Previously a researcher with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NBC News His first major work influenced legislation in the United States Congress to ban Chinese military (PLA) officials from sensitive U.S. government laboratories. He was publicly banned from entering China by the Chinese government in 2020 due to his work. In 2022, he released his first book, Spies and Lies, about the clandestine operations of the Ministry of State Security and United Front Work Department.

Political warfare is the use of hostile political means to compel an opponent to do one's will. The term political describes the calculated interaction between a government and a target audience, including another state's government, military, and/or general population. Governments use a variety of techniques to coerce certain actions, thereby gaining relative advantage over an opponent. The techniques include propaganda and psychological operations ("PsyOps"), which service national and military objectives respectively. Propaganda has many aspects and a hostile and coercive political purpose. Psychological operations are for strategic and tactical military objectives and may be intended for hostile military and civilian populations.