The Stuff That Binds: On the Nature and Role of In formation in Military Operations.
Abstract
This study assesses the validity and general utility of metaphors used in military theory and doctrine to describe the nature and role of information in military operations. The monograph is an extension of the author's earlier work (Physical Metaphor in Military Theory and Doctrine: Force, Friction, or Folly?). The analytical framework is built upon the curriculum of the Advanced Military Studies Program, US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS. The advice of experts is integrated through a review of scholarly works on human communication, cognition, organization, decision, and complexity. A critical review of these theoretical foundations is provided as appendices and summarized in the basic document. Finding no single "best" metaphor, the author presents a revision of the US doctrinal cognitive hierarchy and an extension of J.F.C. Fuller's Foundations of the Science of War. This provides a unified system of thought in which the correspondence between the various metaphors is apparent. The extension of Fuller's work results in the generation of core functions which reconcile the different perspectives on information and other more familiar aspects of military activity as well. The study has shown that "Information Superiority" is currently a bad metaphor because it considers only the informative nature of information, ignoring the affective nature; it promotes inappropriate aggregation of functional proponents in an "10 cell;" and it promotes a "bit count" mentality. "Commodity" is a good metaphor whose most useful feature is perhaps the good correspondence it enjoys with the newer, more complex metaphors, thus making it a good tool for explaining them. "Social Glue' is a good metaphor that is somewhat abstract and cannot completely describe the nature and causes of moral bonding, but it corresponds well with other metaphors.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 21, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA357475
Entities
People
- Joseph A. Brendler
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College