Analysis of Articles Concerning Military Science - Annotated Bibliography Example

Military Science, Annotated Bibliography Richard Kass, The Logic of War Fighting Experiments, The Future of Command and Control, Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology, August 2006, This is one of series of documents and includes details of lots of related publications and also has a link to a relevant web site. Its purpose is to do with improving the Department of Defence’s comprehension of how the advances in modern technology might impact national security. Kass explains at length how this could be done, describing such things as how experiments can be designed and the best techniques to be used. Also included are how assessments can be made and prototypes refined and the author stresses that in order to do this causes must be recognized. The author is an expert on his subject having spent 25 years designing, and then analyzing, and reporting on both military experiments and tests carried out in the operational field. David Alberts and Richard Hayes , Power to the Edge, Command Control in the Information Age , Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology, April 2005 This long document contains such things as definitions and principles to be followed an dins concerned with moving on from the industrial age into the age of technology without discarding all earlier knowledge. It considers hierarchies within the military, but is also willing to take in ideas from the private sector where these are relevant. It describes the characteristics required of forces in the 21st century , including the ability to integrate and co-operate, working with many different agencies as required. It has an excellent bibliography on related topics. The authors are both experts in their fields, Dr Alberts being concerned with research and planning and Dr Hayes being an expert in the multidisciplinary analyses of command as well as in concerned with control as well as intelligence, and issues of national security. Simon Atkinson and James Moffat, The Agile Organization from Informal Networks to Complex Effects and Agility, Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology, July 2005 This extensive paper is another of a series of related documents from the Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology. It is concerned with a global view - one which had its beginnings in informal links and which is now much more extensive and interconnected, considering how basic is the whole idea of how groups are formed, and how they interact and overlap. It looks at the present situation, or very recent events, but also on into the future. The vulnerability of various methods of communication is considered using real example such as the Falklands War. The index is extensive and easy to use and there is also a catalog of related works from the CACT. The authors look back far into history and somehow connect ideas from those times to modern situations. David Alberts, John Garstka, Frederick Stein, Network Centric Warfare, Developing and Leverage Information Superiority, CCRP, February 2000 This document describes how network centric warfare can become reality by looking into the future. It considers such important matters as training and education, security in a fast moving technological world, and finally how all the concepts considered in this long document can be successfully integrated in a usable format. Common wrong ideas on this topic are considered. The expert authors describes the technology available and links to both available wealth and resultant power, describing how those organizations which are successful in dealing with technological warfare become dominant, looking at examples from commerce – not to be followed exactly, but to be used for the basis of formulating military ideas which can then be developed for the purposes of warfare. Roger Chickering and Stig Forster, The Shadows of Total War, Europe, East Asia and the United States, 1919-1939, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2003 Although a modern book, the editors have an historical perspective, in particular considering the 20th century pre-second World War. They consider aspects not mentioned by authors who concentrate on technology. These include the effects of religious belief, pacifist ideals etc and the impact of totals war on psychiatry. Various French and British military journals from the relevant period are considered. They look at the doctrines which drive the plans arrived at and so consider at length both Nazism and Stalinism. This makes the book very different in its structure as well as the ideas explored , from all the other documents included in this bibliography. Thierry Gongora and Harald von Riekhoff, Towards a Revolution in Military Affairs? Defense and Security at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Westport, Greenwood Press, 2000 These authors look at emerging modern day technologies and how these can be best used for military purposes. It has a useful list of acronyms, as well as describing what is said to be a revolution in military affairs ( RMA). The points of view of several military historians are included, so the book contains a wide variety of ideas. ‘Information warfare’ is discussed at some length. Budgets are considered in relation to amounts spent on research and development ( R & D) something not described by other authors listed here. The authors describe not just science of military technology, but also use the word art a number of times. David Leffner , Kart Kleinschnitz, Kenneth Walton, Daniel Burke and SusanVegors, Invincible Defence, A New Secret Weapon, Undated, The fact that this article is undated, which could be seen as detracting from its reliability. The authors come from a variety of backgrounds. These include military thinking, but also cognition, creative intelligence, psychology and physics, all or any of which could have military importance in the right hands. They describe a world where it is much harder to define likely enemies than in earlier times and are concerned with defence technologies , rather than methods of attack. It does however have a number of rather strange references including ones about meditation, collective and what is described as spiritual political consciousness. Many would consider this article to be of little military value despite the impressive qualifications of the authors. Lehman, J. and Sicherman ,H.,Nonan , M. ( editors) America the Vulnerable , Our Military Problems and How to Fix Them, Foreign Policy Research Institute, 2001, This is a full length book with many authors, each concentrating on a different aspect of military science, too many to summarise in a short review. John Hillen for instance considers the possible military role of the United States in a post-Soviet Union World. He looks at various possible labels and the ideas behind them. Harry Summers looks at procurement and other writers cover such diverse topics as biochemical dangers, relationships between the military and civilians, and is there a need to reform ‘military culture’. These are only samples of a wide reaching work on America’s military difficulties, perceived and real. A criticism is that although it is possible to download the complete work , some links work better than others. Edward Smith, Complexity, Networking and Effects-Based Approaches, The Future of Command and Control , Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology, July 2006 This document is concerned with complexity and, as the title explains, how when making choices with regard to methods of communication in military matters those concerned must be concerned with their possible effects. This is the way, the author states , to obtain a necessary and decisive advantage. There is an extensive and relevant bibliography. It covers such things as ethics, as well as how to arrive at solutions to complex military difficulties and understanding the complexities of modern technologies and how to use them to advantage, in particular how to do this without active human intervention. The author is primarily a strategist who has written extensively on this subject. References Alberts ,D., Garstka ,J., Stein, F., Network Centric Warfare, Developing and Leverage Information Superiority, CCRP, February 2000, 17th October 2011 http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Alberts_NCW.pdf Alberts,D. and Hayes,R., Command Control in the Information Age , Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology, April 2005, 17th October 2011 http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Alberts_Power.pdf Atkinson,S. and Moffat,J., The Agile Organization from Informal Networks to Complex Effects and Agility, July 2005 http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Atkinson_Agile.pdf Chickering, R. and Forster, S., The Shadows of Total War, Europe, East Asia and the United States, 1919-1939, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2003 Gongora, T. and von Riekhoff,H., Towards a Revolution in Military Affairs? Defense and Security at the Dawn of the 21st Century, Westport, Greenwood Press, 2000, Kass, R. ,The Logic of War Fighting Experiments, The Future of Command and Control, Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology, August 2006, 17th October 2011 http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Kass_Logic.pdf Leffner ,D., Kleinschnitz,K., Walton,K., Burke,D. and Vegors, S., Invincible Defence, A New Secret Weapon, Undated, 17th October 2011, http://www.peace.ca/invincibledefense.htm Lehman, J. and Sicherman , H., America the Vulnerable , Our Military Problems and How to Fix Them, Foreign Policy Research Institute, 2001,17th October 2011 http://www.fpri.org/americavulnerable/ Smith,E., Complexity, Networking and Effects-Based Approaches, The Future of Command and Control , Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology, July 2006, 17ht October 2011 http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Smith_Complexity.pdf Read More