Nonlinear Science, Informatics, and Transformations of U.S. Military Thought in the Post-Vietnam Era Sean Lawson Dissertation Proposal Defense Department of Science and Technology Studies Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 21 April 2006 Sage 5203

Introduction and Organization Organization Organization  Proposal Summary  Overview and objectives  Background/periodization  Situating/significance  Components  Plan of work/timelines  “Preemptive Strike”  Known Bugs

Overview and Objectives “Performance of U.S. forces in…Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom has provided a glimpse of the potential future of the emerging way of war.” –Arthur K. Cebrowski, Director of Force Transformation

Overview In the post-Vietnam period, how and why has the U.S. military increasingly conceived of information gathering, processing, and distribution—and the denial of those capabilities to the enemy—as the central activities of warfare, and how have these conceptions been inflected with metaphors of nonlinear science (i.e. chaos, complexity, networks) and notions of an emerging Information Age?

Objectives Understanding more… & Thinking better

Background/Periodization Three Phases of Post-Vietnam Change: Three Phases of Post-Vietnam Change:  Military Reform Movement ( [?])  Revolution in Military Affairs ([?] )  Military Transformation (1998-present)

Military Reform Movement John R. Boyd “People, Ideas, Technology—In That Order !”

Revolution in Military Affairs Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) Precision- Guided Munitions (PGMs) Command, Control, Communications, Computers (C4)

Military Transformation

Nonlinear Science Goes to War A schematic drawing of Boyd’s theory of command and control. Feedback and blurred boundaries between observer and observed are important features.

Nonlinear Science Goes to War

Behavior Behavior  Adaptability  Flexibility  Self-Organization  Emergence  Resilience  Robustness  Speed Structure  Networked  Decentralized  Non-Hierarchical  Flat  Amorphous  Dispersed  Distributed What Does it Mean to Be “Like” a Complex System?

Information Age Warfare

Situating/Significance Science and Technology Studies History of Military Technology Military History

Components Questions Sources Framework Second-Order Observing I n f w a r. m i l

Questions In the post-Vietnam period, how and why has the U.S. military increasingly conceived of information gathering, processing, and distribution—and the denial of those capabilities to the enemy—as the central activities of warfare, and how have these conceptions been inflected with metaphors of nonlinear science (i.e. chaos, complexity, networks) and notions of an emerging Information Age? In the post-Vietnam period, how and why has the U.S. military increasingly conceived of information gathering, processing, and distribution—and the denial of those capabilities to the enemy—as the central activities of warfare, and how have these conceptions been inflected with metaphors of nonlinear science (i.e. chaos, complexity, networks) and notions of an emerging Information Age?  Why did the U.S. military develop an interest in Information Warfare in the first place?  Why has the U.S. military accepted the idea that we now live in the Information Age?  Why has the U.S. military increasingly relied upon nonlinear science-based metaphors?  What is the relationship between information technology, military knowledge and subject formation, language and rhetoric?

Sources Source TypeExamples minutes of meetings official publicationsinternal policy and planning documents such as “vision statements,” doctrinal publications, and field manuals public statementsspeeches by military officials, transcripts of news conferences and/or press briefings, transcripts of testimony before Congress military professional journal articlesAir and Space Power Journal (Air Force), Parameters (Army), Military Review (Army), Proceedings of the Naval Institute (Navy), Joint Forces Quarterly (Joint Staff), Marine Corps Gazette (Marine Corps) letters curricular materials from staff and war colleges Army War College, Air War College, Naval War College, Marine Corps University, Naval Postgraduate School, National Defense University, National War College, Army Command and Staff College, Air Command and Staff College, College of Naval Command and Staff. Materials to be considered: syllabi, instructional texts, invited lectures, degree requirements civilian university professional degree programs in security or strategic studies Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, MA in National Security Studies program ; Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, MA in Strategic Studies program. Materials to be considered: curricular materials conference proceedings interview transcriptsconducted by myself or others military-affiliated contractor/think-tank reports RAND, Center for Naval Analysis, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Others

Framework The World Military as Observing System Epistemic Culture/Apparatus SKP Epistemic Culture/Apparatus SKP Observation ORIENTATIONORIENTATION

Workflow Sources Reference Manager FileMaker Database Excel Timelines GraphViz Networks Reports Word processing (Citation/bibliography)

“Closed” Information Strategy Open Media Reports Nonclassified defense publications Interviews FOIA RESEARCHRESEARCH

Proposed Chapters  Chapter 1: Introduction Part I: The Military Reform Movement Part I: The Military Reform Movement  Chapter 2: The Reformers Observe the World  Chapter 3: The Reformers Re-Orient Part II: The Revolution in Military Affairs Part II: The Revolution in Military Affairs  Chapter 4: From Reform to Revolution: A Shift in Worldview?  Chapter 5: The Revolution Within Part III: Military Transformation Part III: Military Transformation  Chapter 6: From New World Order to World Without Order  Chapter 7: Transforming Militaries

Plan of Work/Timelines DateActivity February – May Defend dissertation proposal (April) --Literature review and theoretical framework portions of Ch.1 (introduction). --Begin gathering “leads” to sources on military reform. June – October Research and writing on military reform movement. --Produce rough, working drafts of chapters 2 and 3. --Begin gathering “leads” to sources on RMA November 2006 – March Research and writing on RMA --Produce rough, working drafts of chapters 4 and 5. --Begin gathering “leads” to sources on military transformation. April – August Research and writing on military transformation --Produce rough, working drafts of chapters 6 and 7. September – December Revise theoretical framework and literature review portions of introduction. --Add project overview and outline of current debates sections to introduction. --Revise and rewrite in preparation of first draft. --Write chapter 8 (conclusions). January Submit first draft to committee. March Submit second draft to committee. --Present at RPI STS Colloquium. April Submit final draft to committee. May Dissertation defense.

Preemptive Strike Known Bugs Known Bugs  Background  Too heavily influenced by reformers’ accounts  Periodization—i.e. Why not 1945  ?  Use of IW as blanket term  Overcoming “the military” as rhetorical black box

Questions, Comments, Discussion…