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

On isolation and interactionPhysically, Boyd argues, ‘we can isolate our adversaries by severing their communicationswith the outside world as well as by severing their internal communications to one another.We can accomplish this by cutting them off from their allies and the uncommitted viadiplomatic, psychological and other efforts. To cut them off from one another we shouldpenetrate their system by being unpredictable, otherwise they can counter our efforts.Mentally we can isolate our adversaries by presenting them with ambiguous, deceptive ornovel situations, as well as by operating at a tempo or rhythm they can neither make out norkeep up with. Operating inside their OODA loops will accomplish just this by disorientingor twisting their mental images so that they can neither appreciate nor cope with what’s reallygoing on. Morally our adversaries isolate themselves [!] when they visibly improve their wellbeing to the detriment of others (allies, the uncommitted), by violating codes of conduct orbehavior patterns that they profess to uphold or others expect them to uphold’ 69 . Theexpected payoff isdisintegration and collapse, unless adversaries change their behavior patterns toconform to what is deemed acceptable by others outside themselves 70 .Again, this is only a slight alteration by elaboration of page 36. However, in these slightalterations Boyd did generate new clues concerning isolation. And in a logical response Boydnow explores what this means for maintaining interaction on one’s own side to avoid thisfate flowing from isolation. By exploring one side, Boyd immediately sheds light - or as Boydcalls it, “illumination” - on the opposite. If the previous analysis of isolation is valid, theconsequence for the analysis of interaction lies in the following new description 71 :‘Physically we interact by opening-up and maintaining many channels ofcommunication with the outside world, hence with others out there, that we depend uponfor sustenance, nourishment, or support. Mentally we interact by selecting information froma variety of sources or channels in order to generate mental images or impressions thatmatch-up with the world of events or happenings that we are trying to understand and copewith. Morally we interact with others by avoiding mismatches between what we say we are,what we are, and the world we have to deal with, as well as by abiding by those other culturalcodes or standards that we are expected to uphold’. Here the expected pay-off is 72 :69 Ibid, p.47. By now it will have become evident that rapid OODA looping, or getting inside theenemy decision cycle involves more than merely accomplishing this process faster. It also has aqualitative meaning, which relates to images, views, etc, in short, orientation. For instance, we canoverload the enemy system by presenting him with a wealth of data that may or may not be inaccordance with reality. The data may or may not be consistent or could present contradicting images.If we know his value system or set of expectations, we can feed data that reinforce those beliefs whilein reality doing something else. He may still proceed as rapidly through the process, but the processhas become qualitatively dysfunctional. Note too that isolation can occur not only in the mental, butalso in the physical and moral, dimensions often forgotten in critiques and summaries. Moreover, noteverything related to isolation comes from our actions, but is the result from the opponent's actions,as Boyd shows in his discussion on moral isolation.70 Ibid, p.48.71 Ibid, p.49.72 Ibid, p.50.254