Red Teaming: A Means to Military Transformation
Abstract
In 1999 and 2000, the JAWP conducted with and for the U.S. Joint Forces Command its first joint experiment, J990l: Attack Operations Against Critical Mobile Targets. The experiment's primary focus was on exploring new joint concepts to detect and attack critical mobile targets, specifically theater ballistic missiles (TBMs) circa 2015. To expose these concepts to an adaptive enemy, a Red Team was employed to develop and execute various aspects of a future TBM force, including counters to Blue Force attack operations. The Red Team experience in J9901 also contributed to the process of learning how to design and conduct future joint experiments. This paper makes the case that Red Teams are needed throughout concept development and experimentation, and further, that red team activities should be embedded in a disciplined process of Red-Blue interaction. At one level, red teaming could challenge our strategic context and visions of future military capabilities by inventing and exploring counter-strategies and challenging scenarios. At a second level, red teaming could focus on identifying counters to proposed new operational level concepts and capabilities; for example, the Rapid Decisive Operations concept designated by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as "the tool to operationalize Joint Vision 2020". A third level of red teaming activity could be in direct support of experimentation by serving as the opposing force in individual experiments. The author concludes with a discussion of the role of Red Teams in the overall transformation process that DoD is seeking to implement.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA388176
Entities
People
- John F. Sandoz
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses