Economy of Information: A Necessary Principle of War
Abstract
Adopting Economy of Information as a Principle of War legitimizes the paradigms needed by operational commanders and their staffs to evolve doctrines and organizations necessary to exploit the technologies of the Information Age. Economy of Information is the careful or thrifty management of the transmission and interaction of ideas, facts, data, and instructions in any medium or form. A simpler definition, stewardship of interaction, is also acceptable. But Economy of Information is more than a definition, slogan, or dogmatic principle. It is a new way to think about nonlinearity, organizational structures, control, and decision making. Information drives interaction, which increases complexity. Thriving in complexity necessitates networked organizations, giving up direct control, pushing initiative down the chain-of-command, and making decisions in the face of uncertainty. Each of these elements are optimized or impeded depending on the application of Economy of Information. Optimization hinges on an understanding of the information domain and its interactions with the physical, connectivity, and cognitive domains. Keeping American operational art competitive in this new Information Age calls for implementation of ten specific Economy of Information recommendations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 08, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA378612
Entities
People
- Patrick C. Higby
Organizations
- Naval War College