Digital Defense: Goals, Missions, Achievements
Abstract
It is an old adage that information dominates the battlefield. Some twenty-five hundred years ago, Sun-Tzu taught us that if you knew the enemy and yourself, you would never be in danger in hundreds of battles. Sun-Tzus words, Know your enemy, mean knowing the enemy leaders intentions. Sun-Tzu thought that if we knew the enemy's intentions, we could win a victory without war against the enemy. However, it is very difficult to find out the enemy's intentions because the enemy publicly never reveals its intentions. Sun-Tzu taught us that it was very important to employ spies. Thus, he developed the use of spies in various ways. In contrast, Clausewitz did not agree with Sun-Tzu's idea on the importance of employing spies. He thought that it was very difficult to get information from spies in the battlefield and very risky to believe the information from the spies. Therefore, Clausewitz insisted that destroying the enemy by mobilizing the strong military power was far better than relying on information from spies. The evolution of modern technology fundamentally changed the battlefield environment. Advanced sensor technology made it possible to discern the enemy's location and activities day and night. Advanced computer technology made it possible to produce accurate information quickly from a vast amount of information data. Yet, it is still a very difficult job to discern the enemy leader's intention, despite the fact that our capability of assessing the enemy's weapons and combat tools is significantly improved. Development of networking technologies made it possible to disseminate battlefield information easily to the required user. The supreme command and the combatant unit commanders on the front lines can share the same information. Various functional units can carry out cooperative operations under a unified command and control system.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- AD1032401
Entities
People
- Jae Chang Kim
Organizations
- Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies