Self-synchronization is an idea that comes directly from Network-Centric Warfare but its foundations lie in complexity theory and the ideas of self-organization and emergent behavior. In order to understand self-synchronization the basics of...
Causal claims are unavoidable in military affairs. However, causal claims are also insufficient when attempting to understand and intervene in complex environments. Hence, notions of conventional causality must be supplemented with an understanding...
The United States Army can improve the quality of the officer corps by enhancing the understanding of how field-grade commanders are developed. The Army has produced some of the finest leaders in history. The leaders produced have been possible due...
Today's operational environment consists of uncertainty, chance, friction, and complexity. Change and adaptation that once required years to implement must now be recognized, communicated, and enacted far more quickly. To effectively respond to the...
Military practitioners are often asked to make plans that could have enormous strategic effects without having a good understanding of their operational environment. It is exactly this relationship between the plan, the environment, and the end...
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...
How can the Interagency Conflict Assessment Framework (ICAF) be improved in order to better understand the operational environment? The application of the ICAF requires good intellectual habits that encompass an appreciation for abductive reasoning...
In 1996, Joint Vision 2010 (JV2010) established a template for transforming the armed forces that continues to define sustainment transformation within the U.S. Army, while the publication of Network Centric Warfare in 1999 provided the theoretical...
This monograph analyzes the effects of globalization on the international system as reflected in the changing nature of war. The difficulties that the United States leadership is having with creating and communicating a strategy for the Global War...
Military officials often utilize the PMESII-PT acronym (Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical Environment, and Time) as an analytical start point to assess an operational environment. However, the linear...
American policy in Afghanistan has evolved since the initial engagement of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It has become increasingly clear that strategic focus must include a plan to concentrate upon and continue development of a stable and secure...
Complexity theory has attracted considerable interest from operational artists in recent times. However, because it is still an emerging field, there are few -- if any -- historical case studies that show how complexity applies to military...
This monograph explores the strategic dilemma facing the Australian Strategic Planning System in the post Cold War environment. Previously the Australian Government and Australian Defense Organization produced Defense White Papers to provide an...
Chaos theory is a poorly understood concept in social science and in military analytical decision making systems. Military decision makers require a multidisciplinary approach of mathematical analysis, modeling and simulation, topology, and...
The intent of this thesis is to examine the spiritual needs of the majority of soldiers by age demographic. They are from two postmodern generations, Generation X and the Millennial Generation. The thesis examines generational differences, the...
With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the grip of
superpower strictures loosened resulting in an increase in complexity and dynamism that marks today's security environment. The rapidly changing and uncertain...
Creativity, the generation of new ideas that are both novel and appropriate is essential to understanding complex problems, and can be enhanced by both life experience diversity and cognitive diversity, as well as by delayed evaluation during...
The Army operates in an environment of ever increasing complexity. Traditional management models that have governed the actions of agencies and bureaucracies are becoming increasingly inadequate for dealing with the details and emergent realities...
The defense and intelligence community initiatives to create persistent surveillance capabilities and enable access to the resultant continuous data streams will create significant change in the joint force and partners operating across the domains...
Joint Doctrine, explicitly, and Army Doctrine, implicitly, recommend that military commanders and staffs exercise systems thinking in operational planning and execution. However, current Military Doctrine fails to fully explicate and apply a...