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

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Boyd’s inspiration also came in part from some fiasco’s he had witnesses in the USarmed forces exercises and operations, such as the failed evacuation operation Desert I inIran. In his introduction he points out that normal, ‘institutional responses to such failures ismore and better sensors, more communications, more and better display devices, moresatellites, more and better fusion centers, etc. – all tied into one giant fully informed, fullycapable Command and Control system. This way of thinking emphasizes hardware as thesolution 2 .Boyd’s approach is process oriented, or in his words, ‘I think there is a different way,a way that emphasizes the implicit nature of human beings. In this sense, the followingdiscussion will uncover what we mean by both implicit nature and organic design’ 3 .Criteria for command and controlHe starts out with providing some guiding thoughts as the background for the rest of hisargument, much as he had done in the first pages of Patterns of Conflict. In effect, he lays out aset of criteria around which a command and control philosophy must be designed. Boydasserts that we: Need insight and vision to unveil adversary plans and actions as well as “foresee” own goalsand appropriate plans and actions. Need focus and direction to achieve some goal or aim. Need adaptability, to cope with uncertain and everchanging circumstances. Need security, to remain unpredictable 4 .The rationale for these criteria is also offered and it is closely related to the two variants ofthe set of four elements Boyd had introduced in Patterns of Conflict:variety/rapidity/harmony/initiative (Patterns of Conflict, p.12);insight/initiative/adaptability/harmony (Patterns of Conflict, p.185).As Boyd explains, ‘without insight and vision there can be no orientation to deal with bothpresent and future. Without focus and direction, implied or explicit, there can be neitherharmony of effort nor initiative for vigorous effort. Adaptability implies variety and rapidity.Without variety and rapidity one can neither be unpredictable nor cope with changing andunforeseen circumstances. Without security one becomes predictable, hence one loses thebenefits of the above’ 5 . From this basis, Boyd sets out to develop a normative view on adesign for command and control. Like Patterns of Conflict, he starts with some historicalKhan of Khans (1969) and A Genius for War (1977); J.F.C. Fuller, Grant ands Lee, (1932); Richard Gabrieland Paul Savage, Crisis in Command (1978); Richard Gabriel and Reuven Gal, 'The IDF Officer:Linchpin in Unit Cohesion', Army (January 1984); John Gardner, Morale (1978); Simon Goodenoughand Len Deighton, Tactical Genius in Battle (1979); Heinz Guderian, Panzer Leader (1952); RichardHumble, Hitler's Generals (1974); Albert Kesselring et al, Manual for Command and Combat Employment ofSmaller Units (1952); Harold Lamb, Genghis Khan (1927); Kenneth Macksey, Guderian, Creator of theBlitzkrieg (1976); S.L.A. Marshall, Men Against Fire (1947); Erwin Rommel, Infantery Attacks (1937);Charles Whiting, Patton (1970); and importantly, Martin van Creveld, Command in War (1982).2 Organic design for Command and Control, p.23 Ibid. It is not difficult to see the influence of The Tacit Dimension in this.4 Ibid, p.3.5 Ibid, p.4.234
snapshots, or “samples from historical environment”. He offers nine citations from ninepractitioners (including himself) 6 :Sun Tzu (around 400 BC)Probe enemy strength to unmask his strengths,weaknesses, patterns of movement and intentions.Shape enemy's perception of world to maipulate/undermine his plans and actions. EmployCheng/Ch'I maneuvers to quickly and unexpectedlyhurl strength against weaknesses.Bourcet (1764-71)A plan ought to have several branches…Oneshould…mislead the enemy and make him imaginethat the main effort is coming at some other part.And…one muist be ready to profit by a second orthird branch of the plan without giving one's enemytime to consider it.Napoleon (early 1800's)Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. Iam less chary of the latter than the former. Space wecan recover, time never. I may lose a battle, but Ishall never lose a minute. The whole art of warconsists in a well reasoned and circumspectdefensive, followed by rapid and audacious attack.Clausewitz (1832)Friction (which includes the interaction of manyfactors, such as uncertainty, psychological/moralforces and effects, etc.) impedes activity. Friction isthe only concept that more or less corresponds tothe factors that distinguish real war from war onpaper. In this sense, friction represents the climateor atmosphere of war.Jomini (1836)By free and rapid movements carry bulk of theforces (successively) against fractions of theenemy.N.B. Forrest (1860's)Git thar the fustest with the mostestBlumentritt (1947)The entire operational and tactical leadershipmethod hinged upon …rapid conciseassessment of situations,…and quick decisionand quick execution, on the principle: eachminute ahead of the enemy is an advantage.Balck (1980)Emphasis upon creation of implicitconnections or bonds based upon trust, notmistrust, that permit wide freedom forsubordinates to exercise imagination andinitiative--yet harmonize within intent ofsuperior commanders. Benefit: internalsimplicity that permits rapid adaptability.Yours trulyOperate insde adversary's observationorientation-decision-actionloops to enmeshadversary in a world of uncertainty, doubt,mistrust, confusion, disorder, fear, panic,chaos,…and/or fold adversary back insidehimself so that he cannot cope withevents/efforts as they unfold.The key points Boyd derives from these quotations are that (1) the atmosphere of war isfriction; (2) friction is generated and magnified by menace, ambiguity, deception, rapidity,uncertainty, mistrust, etc.; (3) friction is diminished by implicit understanding, trust,cooperation, simplicity, focus, etc.; and (4) in this sense, variety and rapidity tend to magnifyfriction, while harmony and initiative tend to diminish friction 7 . In other words, withoutharmony and initiative, variety and rapidity lead to confusion and disorder. Harmony andinitiative without variety and rapidity lead to rigid uniformity and predictability and ultimatelyto non-adaptability. The problem for any command concept then becomes to find an answerto the question how to generate harmony/initiative so that one can exploit variety/rapidity.Boyd comments on that question by suggesting that we must uncover those interactions thatfoster harmony and initiative yet do not destroy variety and rapidity 8 .6 Ibid, pp.7-8.7 Ibid, p.8.8 Ibid, p. 9.235
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Science, Strategy and WarThe Strate
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We are survival machines.Richard Da
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CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION............
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Introduction.......................
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1. INTRODUCTIONTo flourish and grow
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testing of the decision selected by
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momentum and tempo, which in combin
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tracing the history of war Boyd saw
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in general. Referring to Karl Poppe
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constitute an argument about strate
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2. ON STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC THEORY
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its internal make up and the dynami
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strategist’s task is not to creat
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must be holistic, paying due respec
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Such a division can also be discern
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sensibility that would be capable o
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Why strategic theorizing is difficu
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truth is independent of human belie
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policy, is policy’ 107 . Subseque
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of systems of thought which will gu
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Science and Strategic TheoryDominan
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the major intellectual currents tha
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friction, which is infused with the
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3. THE SEEDS OF A THEORY AND THE FE
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Slowly his writings matured. In 196
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This situation also reflected the d
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at the cost of airspeed depletion)
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and air power theorists are notably
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Lawrence wrote Liddell Hart that fo
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The Indirect ApproachThe foregoing
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in weakening the opponent’s will
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standing in a direct theoretical li
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perfect information, so Chapter 9 r
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According with the enemy is the ass
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preconceived battle plan depends up
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mental or moral, instead they aim t
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calculation, based on the assumptio
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Turbulent environmentThis convictio
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the introduction of the M1 Abrams t
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campaign with which it was most com
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The debates resulted via the improv
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emphasized being more responsive, a
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4. SCIENCE: BOYD’S FOUNTAINKnowle
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The list exceeds 20 pages. Indeed,
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counter-culture. He had read severa
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Popper’s Evolutionary Epistemolog
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species. Finally, theories, unlike
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discovery’ 39 . ‘We have here t
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for failure and an encouragement fo
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investigated and a change of the ru
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Paradigm shiftBeyond NewtonIn the p
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philosophical aspects, Prigogine an
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uncertainty in another “conjugate
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The link between thermodynamics and
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As Ludwig Bertalanffy noted, the gr
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assessing deviation from coursecoun
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the system by the environment or ot
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A slightly more complex model from
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implementation of the right program
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The model below shows this process
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The process of learning, and the pr
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Positive indicatorsNegative indicat
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In Patterns of Conflict he also emp
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progressed and developed a new lang
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advances in knowledge, adaptation,
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TraditionalReductionismLinear causa
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exist only because they are open. T
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Concentration of chemical ANew stab
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It preserves the web-like pattern o
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Orientation shapes the character of
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either. The edge of chaos is where
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The final region is the boundary be
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Levels of adaptationThis naturally
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Operate inside adversary’s OODA l
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Organisms which are internally cons
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The last mentioned feature implies
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mathematics, in short chaos and com
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Such efforts have lead to suggestio
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processes are maintained simultaneo
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Boyd’s views on command and contr
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Several of these ideas surface in B
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problems they seek to comprehend or
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ehavior in reaction to what the oth
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sciences, which he termed a new int
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egulations, orders, and other means
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as focus for military planning on t
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A Discourse and the scientific Zeit
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Sharpening our mental capabilities
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perceive it’ 184 . By trying to c
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Ensure a large variety of conceptua
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The main intent of the effort is to
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e true. Thus tested and refined, it
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particulars or we can start with th
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inconsistencies may emerge to stifl
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although not exact1y -- since the u
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Page 196 and 197: He then incorporates a section of t
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Page 202 and 203: Boyd does not find fault with these
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Page 210 and 211: Blitzkrieg disrupts the connections
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Page 214 and 215: Only the fourth condition relates t
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Page 222 and 223: In light of his previous observatio
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Page 226 and 227: This then leads to the second wrap-
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Page 230 and 231: dimension on the behavior of a stra
Page 232 and 233: Theme for Disintegration and Collap
Page 234 and 235: Strategic AimDiminish adversary’s
Page 236 and 237: ApplicationRevisiting Sun Tzu, rein
Page 238 and 239: The general underlying idea of Coun
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Page 246 and 247: The Big O: Orientation.The ensuing
Page 248 and 249: implicit cross-referencing process
Page 250 and 251: Magnify adversary’s friction and
Page 252 and 253: This differs from traditional views
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Page 256 and 257: General SurveyIn this section his i
Page 258 and 259: city, however, the situation is qui
Page 260 and 261: “Destruction and Creation”, by
Page 262 and 263: So Boyd discerns within the adversa
Page 264 and 265: On isolation and interactionPhysica
Page 266 and 267: The Art of Success:Shape or influen
Page 268 and 269: The meaning of strategy and the art
Page 270 and 271: however is not much different, but
Page 272 and 273: Examples from EngineeringSome Outst
Page 274 and 275: words, in order to gain a richer im
Page 276 and 277: what applies to science and enginee
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Page 280 and 281: The real OODA loop270
Page 282 and 283: This relates the OODA loop clearly
Page 284 and 285: for a process of learning, of evolv
Page 286 and 287: thing any system is constantly faci
Page 288 and 289: communication and explicit directio
Page 290 and 291: 8. CONCLUSIONThe history of science
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strategy. He elaborates on several
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ehavior, demonstrating the value of
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film, sociology, geography, literar
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That social scientific knowledge, o
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undertakes to improve its own perfo
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The reflexive nature of modern soci
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the context within which the situat
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“road maps for action”, but rat
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all point at the changes the techno
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central sign of post-modernity. In
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a revolution in military affairs oc
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This will affect war and warfare:
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Athena’s Camp. They see swarming
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commanders to improve their decisio
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Military War Beyond Military War No
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schemas. Gell-Mann developed the id
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extent in the novel approach for th
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ANNEX B: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PATTERNS O
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LeBoeuf, Michael, “GMP, The Great
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Wolf, Eric R., “Peasant Wars of t
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Bartolomasi, Paolo: ‘The Realitie
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Cohen, William S.: Report of the Qu
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Fukuyama, Francis: The Great Disrup
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Hughes, Daniel: ‘Abuses of German
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Lewin, Roger, and Birute Regine:
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Murdock, Paul, ‘Principles of War
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Rosenau, James, N.: ‘Many Damn Th
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Walt, Stephen M.: ‘Rigor or Rigor
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