The Vertical is Not Yet Becoming the Horizontal

Abstract

This paper, for purpose of stimulating thought, presents a largely contrary view from those that expect the information revolution to decentralize military command and control by largely flattening the traditional vertical military organization. This contrary positron will be based on three primary assumptions. First, the future considered here will include information and intelligence technologies that are more revolutionary than evolutionary. Second, military organizations and military functions are sufficiently different from commercial ones that applying successful concepts from the latter to the former must be approached with great caution. Third, while it is healthy to examine assumptions, we probably need only modify the traditional vertical organization to accommodate increasing communications and information handling capabilities. Considering these Issues is important because the United States military is seriously examining the reality and relevance of an emerging "INFOSPHERE".1

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA441102

Entities

People

  • Lloyd Hoffman

Organizations

  • National War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Civil War
  • Command And Control
  • Deception
  • Doctrine
  • Hierarchies
  • Information Operations
  • Information Systems
  • Information Warfare
  • Marine Corps
  • Military Organizations
  • Naval Doctrine
  • Naval Operations
  • Naval Warfare
  • Revolutions
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Enterprise Information Systems Architecture and Joint Command Capability Interoperability Support.
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control