A network is a system of sensors, information processing and decision-making centers, and firing platforms connected by communications lines. The concept of Network-Centric Warfare originated to solve operational level problems at the joint level. Networking fires at the brigade level unit of action could theoretically add to the efficiency and effectiveness of lower level tactical fires by giving units at all levels direct access to all available fires in the area of operations. This monograph constitutes an exploratory study of and preliminary analysis of the effects of networking all...

The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the federal government response to Hurricane Katrina have demonstrated a vital need for the military to improve the process for assessment, response, and decision-making. Concepts such as operational art and Design claim to provide "a way" to frame the operational problem, but neither method actually improve the commander's ability to understand the situation. Some processes, such as operational art and design, fall short of answering important questions and translate easily into missions that soldiers can execute. Military commands and staffs start...

This paper answers the thesis question, "Have the ends (interests, goals or objectives) specified in the National Security Strategies (NSS) since 1986, been consistent?" For this study, consistent is defined as whether the ends from NSS to NSS have agreed or been basically compatible with each other. The working hypothesis is that there is remarkable consistency in the ends specified in the National Security Strategies published since the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986. For sake of analysis, this study proposes there are four "enduring" U.S....

Can the United States successfully impose democracy by force without resorting to the same level of total warfare it waged on Germany and Japan in the Second World War? The hypothesis for this research is that the U.S. can successfully force democracy on an undemocratic state without resorting to total war, but it can only do so through a comprehensive plan that includes the coordinated and integrated application of all instruments of national power and influence. This is an important question for operational and strategic planners and policy makers, because the United States has embarked on...

This study analyzes the theories of Pragmatic Communications, Cybernetics, and Perturbation under the framework of the Pragmatic Complexity Model to illustrate how two Presidential administrations beginning in the 20th and 21st centuries used 'new media' and systems thinking to communicate to both international and domestic audiences. Moreover, the study provides examples of how each used narratives to counter opposing ideologies. Similarly, this monograph explores two notions of Chinese thought, potential and propensity, which prove useful for studying diplomacy and strategic communication....

Operational design is an intellectual exercise that draws on the creative vision, experience, intuition, and judgment of commanders to provide a framework for development of detailed operation plans. Recently, a number of authors have questioned the continued relevance of the classic elements of operational design (CEOD) approach in the contemporary operating environment (COE) suggesting that we may be facing a 'crisis in operational design'. This monograph explores this potential crisis in operational design from a Canadian Forces (CF) perspective and examines the CF CEOD methodology with a...

Recent assertions have been made that the nature of warfare in our current operating environment has changed in such a way that phasing in military operations has outlasted its utility and become problematic, requiring it to be eliminated or replaced in military planning. The problem this monograph attempts to evaluate and solve is whether or not phasing in U.S. Military doctrine and operational design still has utility in planning military operations, or if it should be eliminated or replaced by some other means of visualizing plans and arranging forces for military operations. Phasing has...

Throughout its history the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has exhibited brilliant tactical performance. The War of Independence, the Sinai Campaign, the Six Day War, and even the 1973 War placed Israel on a martial pedestal with few peers. On closer inspection, examination reveals a lack of operational foresight and the failure to achieve its ultimate objective - peace with its Arab neighbors. The IDF, because of its perilous strategic geography and small regular military force, became wedded to an exclusive offensive and preemptive doctrine that was shattered during the 1973 War, or October...

A common perspective among U.S. interagency partners today is that any step towards more effective and coordinated responses to contemporary security challenges requires an improved and shared understanding of the nature of the conflict and the environment in which it exists or may potentially emerge. They also agree that this requires both a joint interagency process for conducting the assessment and a common conceptual framework to guide the collection and analysis of information. In October 2008, an interagency committee officially adopted the Interagency Conflict Assessment Framework...