Science, Strategy and War The Strategic Theory of ... - Boekje Pienter

to victory by connecting them to the ability to adapt. Boyd asserts that ‘Variety and rapidityallow one to magnify the adversary’s friction, hence to stretch-out his time to respond.Harmony and initiative stand and work on the opposite side by diminishing one’s ownfriction, hence compressing one’s own time to exploit variety/rapidity in a directed way’.Altogether variety/rapidity/ harmony/initiative enable one to:Operate inside adversary’s observation-orientation-decision-action loops to enmeshadversary in a world of uncertainty, doubt, mistrust, confusion, disorder, fear, panic, chaos,…and/or fold adversary back inside himself so that he cannot cope with events/efforts asthey unfold.Simultaneously, so Boyd continues, ‘by repeatedly rolling-thru OODA loops while appealingto and making use of the ideas embodied in “Grand Strategy” and “Theme for Vitality andGrowth”, we can evolve and exploit variety/rapidity/ harmony/initiative as a basis to:Shape or influence events so that we not only amplify our spirit and strength (while isolatingour adversaries and undermining their resolve and drive) but also influence the uncommittedor potential adversaries so that they are drawn toward our philosophy and are empathetictoward our success 141 .The Art of Success. Finally, Boyd arrives at his “nutshell” formulation of what constitutes“The Art of Success”. The two sentences that convey this view do not make a convincingassertion when read in isolation. Indeed, they may sound simplistic. However, when read inthe context of the discourse he has had so far with his audience, the various exercises inabstraction, in stripping away and recombining, this final effort at getting to the essence ofthings contains a world of meaning, theories, theorists, schools of thought and concepts.Every word has been discussed before and has become a signifier of a train of thought. Andin these few words Boyd both concludes and captures a discussion which spans 2500 yearsof military history and strategic theory. In a few conceptually rich but very abstract words, hemanages to combine in a logically connected way the “things to do” at the tactical, grandtactical, the strategic and grand strategic levels, themes from moral and maneuver conflictand the themes for vitality and growth and theme for disintegration and collapse. Boyd’sadvice for success is to 142 :The Art of SuccessAppear to be an unsolvable cryptogram while operating in a directed way to penetrateadversary vulnerabilities and weaknesses in order to isolate him from his allies, pull himapart, and collapse his will to resist.yetShape or influence events so that we not only magnify our spirit and strength but alsoinfluence potential adversaries as well as the uncommitted so that they are drawn towardour philosophy and are empathetic toward our success.The first sentence is an advice to remain, in the words of Sun Tzu, unfathomable to theenemy, yet operate coherently in several levels of war and across different dimension. While141 Ibid, p.177.142 Ibid, p.178.230