Adapting Clausewitz to the Information Age: How Traditional News Media and Social Networking are Combining to Expand the Triangle

摘要

While advancing technology has not altered the intangible attributes that define war's nature, it has changed and expanded the tangible contexts that contain those intangible attributes. As such, Clausewitz's triangle is no longer sufficient by itself to account for evolving information conduits and the tangible players who influence and direct that flow. This paper redefines the term 'media' to include both traditional global news media and individual persons who, being social networking participants, serve as both producers and consumers of news. It introduces a new construct -- a pentagon -- that provides a more modern and useful means of examining war's nature. It examines the changing dynamic of the military-media relationship as it relates to Clausewitz's triangle from the Vietnam War to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of expanding the triangle and makes recommendations for the necessary evolution of Defense Department policy and joint doctrine on information management and media interaction.