Brandwatch and Blackbird.AI Chosen by NATO to Deliver Information Environment Assessment Capability
NATO has selected the Brandwatch and Blackbird.AI consortium to deliver an Information Environment Assessment Capability (IEAC) that helps leaders see narrative risk in real time and act on it. The capability brings secure, scalable, AI-enabled tools to monitor, analyze, and interpret public and commercially available data across complex digital ecosystems.
Delivered as a bespoke, enterprise-wide social intelligence stack, the solution combines media monitoring, sentiment analysis, and trend detection to support decision-making across the NATO enterprise. For related guidance on monitoring and engagement across digital platforms, see Social Media.
What's included in the capability
- Integrated media and social monitoring with broad data coverage and compliance with licensing and security standards.
- AI-driven sentiment, trend, and narrative risk analysis that flags emerging threats and surfaces the actors, networks, and behaviors behind them.
- Enterprise delivery that supports strategic communicators with planning and assessment across a fast, fragmented, and contested information space.
- Technology and expertise from across Cision's portfolio, including Trajaan for search intelligence, plus specialist partners Osavul and Converseon.
"By combining world-class data coverage with next-generation AI, we're giving NATO a more comprehensive and timely understanding of the information environment," said Guy Abramo, Chief Executive Officer, Cision.
"This integrated Brandwatch and Blackbird.AI solution significantly enhances our ability to deliver data-driven insights at scale," said Chris Riley, Head of Plans and Insights in the Office of Strategic Communications at NATO Headquarters.
"Blackbird.AI's strategic collaboration with NATO over the past several years has provided critical analysis on harmful narratives impacting their operations," added Wasim Khaled, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackbird.AI.
Why this matters for PR and Communications leaders
The bar just moved. If NATO is investing in integrated narrative intelligence, boards and ministries will expect similar rigor from their communications functions-clear threat detection, transparent scoring, and measurable response. Communications leaders can find practical guidance and case studies in AI for PR & Communications.
- Shift from volume metrics to risk metrics: Track narrative trajectories, actor networks, and bot anomalies-not just mentions and reach.
- Operationalize response: Build playbooks that tie narrative risk scores to actions, owners, and SLAs across comms, policy, legal, and security.
- Close the tooling gap: Consolidate listening, verification, and workflow into one stack so insights move straight into decision-making.
- Stress-test coverage: Validate language, region, and platform depth against your highest-risk audiences and scenarios.
- Stay compliant: Ensure data licensing, privacy, and security guardrails are contractually clear and technically enforced.
Who's in the consortium
Brandwatch, part of the Cision family, brings long-standing experience supporting government, defense, and public-sector organizations with social and media data, analytics, and AI-driven insight. Blackbird.AI contributes its Narrative Intelligence Platform to identify and prioritize harmful narratives, related threat actors, the networks that spread them, anomalous bot behavior, and the communities they touch.
The build also taps Trajaan for search intelligence to reveal emerging trends and intent signals, with specialist support from Osavul and Converseon. Together, these components aim to strengthen strategic communications, improve situational awareness, and enable faster, more informed decisions across the NATO enterprise.
Context and next steps
For communicators, this is a signal to level up narrative risk practice: unify monitoring, standardize scoring, and integrate response. It's also a reminder to invest in team skills-analysts who can translate signal into executive-ready recommendations.
- Learn more about the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) and its technology programs.
- Explore NATO's mission and priorities at nato.int.
If you're building similar capability inside your organization, upskill your team with focused AI training for comms and risk use cases: AI courses by job role.
About the partners
Brandwatch is a social media management and consumer intelligence suite used by half of the Forbes 100. Its products span consumer intelligence, influencer marketing, and social media management, powered by AI and compliant with leading data and security standards.
Blackbird.AI protects executives and organizations from narrative-based disinformation attacks that can cause financial, operational, reputational, and physical harm. Its platform identifies harmful narratives, prioritizes them by risk, and maps actors, networks, and behavioral anomalies so organizations can act with precision.
Your membership also unlocks:
