Understanding and Defeating a Complex Adaptive ... - Australian Army

Decision-Making • Lieutenant Colonel Ian Langford
Mexican cartels as two normally remote systems that, through common rule sets,
network flow and competition, display true emergence by re-framing themselves as
a terrorism/narcotics network.
By gaining an understanding of the traits of a counter-nation network such as
this, the attacking adversary (in this instance, ISAF, INTERPOL, the Afghanistan
government) can, as a result of mapping the network, begin to understand it.
Notwithstanding this, mapping must be an iterative process, constantly renewed and
refined as the network changes. This also acknowledges the previously mentioned
principles of a complex adaptive network that thereby necessitates a need for a
‘near-constant’ review of its principles and traits.
An effective mapping process can then provide the basis for a more detailed
network review, and the construction of a complex network targeting methodology.
Emphasis can be further applied on the inter-relationships that exist between the
network’s traits and its networks—this survey can occur with an up/down and left/
right perspective in order to attain greater fidelity on the network. Targets (nodes)
begin to appear, as well as networks (modes) that form the inter-dependencies across
the entire system. Figure 2 illustrates this point using the previous Taliban/Mexican
cartel network as a focal point of analysis.
Once the network targeting priorities become clear, the aim of the network
adversary should be now to attempt to inject a non-linear complexity into the network
in order to induce chaos and ‘entrophy’ the
network, cascading it to a point of termination
and ultimate systemic destruction.
Network-based targeting offers a different
perspective on the target system or systems by
focusing on the interrelationship of elements
within the larger system. One devotes particular
attention to those properties and mechanisms
that account for coherent behaviour in
the system. Once this is understood, then the
An effective mapping
process can then provide
the basis for a more
detailed network review …
introduction of a successful non-linearity into the system (e.g. counter-narcotics law
enforcement, international cooperation, counterinsurgent strategies to defeat the
Taliban, improved border control, etc) can be applied with maximum effect.
Two points of concentration when looking to create non-linearity underpin
successful network based targeting: complexity and entropy. 5 Complexity is a measure
of the degree to which a system contains large numbers of interacting entities with
coherent behaviour. Complexity can be effectively measured from a value of zero
to some maximum number. This effectively informs the adversary of the amount of
complexity that exists in the network and indicates the level of probable counternetwork
actions required. Entropy, on the other hand, is a measure of the amount
page 114 • Volume IX, Number 3 • Australian Army Journal