Leveraging Technology: Using the Practical Essence of Operational Art toTranslate Information into Decisions

摘要

There exists a belief among many that we are in the midst of a Revolution inMilitary Affairs that promises the elimination of fog, friction and uncertainty by using new technologies to collect near perfect, real-time information that will allow the commander to make decisions based on his ability to predict the shape of the future battlefield. This paper argues that the operational decision making process must be modified in order to take advantage of quantum leaps in information availability afforded by advances in technology and that operational art is the fulcrum for leveraging that technology. It asserts that the practical essence of modern operational art is the management of time, resources, and risks in a dynamic environment to orchestrate temporally and spatially distributed operations into one coherent whole.