Are We Winning? A Brief History of Military Operations Assessment

Abstract

"Are we winning?" That simple question has proven decidedly difficult for the U.S. military to answer at various times in its history, and in recent decades has given rise to formal processes for trying to measure progress in warfare--a practice that has become known as "operations assessment." Over the past decade, CNA analysts have found themselves increasingly involved in operations assessment, as has the broader military operations research community. Yet, to our knowledge, there is no comprehensive account of the history of operations assessment. This paper aims to serve as a primer on the subject to provide context on how operations assessment has grown and developed over the past several decades. We hope that it serves as a foundation and source of encouragement for a more robust history on this topic.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2014
Accession Number
ADA609967

Entities

People

  • Emily Mushen
  • Jonathan Schroden

Organizations

  • CNA ANALYSIS AND SOLUTIONS ALEXANDRIA VA

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Asymmetric Warfare
  • Command And Control
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Defense Industry
  • Education
  • Intergovernmental Organizations
  • International Organizations
  • Iraqi-War
  • Military Applications
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Operations Research
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design