Information Sharing Among Military Headquarters: The Effects of Decisionmaking

Abstract

New concepts such as network-centric operations and distributed and decentralized command and control have been suggested as technologically enabled replacements for platform-centric operations and for centralized command and control in military operations. But as attractive as these innovations may seem, they must be tested before adoption. This report assesses the effects of collaboration across alternative information network structures in carrying out a time-critical task, identifies the benefits and costs of local collaboration, and looks at how information overload affects a system. This report will be of interest to military planners, operators, and personnel charged with assessing the effects of alternative information network structures, processing facilities, and dissemination procedures. Planners contemplating the use of network-centric processes to achieve military objectives can use the methods described in the report to evaluate alternative structures and processes. Information technologists can assess the contribution of each alternative to the decision maker's knowledge prior to taking a decision. The ultimate goal is to develop tools that will allow operators to quickly evaluate plans for their level of situational awareness.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA452560

Entities

People

  • James Moffat
  • Walter L. Perry

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Command And Control
  • Command And Control Systems
  • Cooperative Engagement Capability
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Information Systems
  • Information Theory
  • Military Operations
  • Multiple Launch Rocket System
  • National Security
  • Network Architecture
  • Network Centric Warfare
  • Operations Research
  • Probability Distributions
  • Random Variables
  • Situational Awareness

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.

Technology Areas

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