Huts and Nuts or Hearts and Minds -- Anthropologists and Operational Art

摘要

The conflicts of the future will require more than the ability to defeat an enemy, secure territory, and have freedom of movement through air, land, and sea. They may require more than the balancing of the traditional three factors of Operational Art: time-space-force. A fourth factor, called 'information,' which impacts and underlies the three others, may be emerging. Whether information is an operational factor or part of force, its importance cannot be denied. Part of what commanders must now consider as part of the information they require is knowledge about the human landscape. This human landscape, unfortunately, is not always easy to understand. This paper discusses an option a commander, the director of Operational Art, has in reading the human landscape. It will examine the possibility of relying on anthropologists to provide that human landscape. It will examine the use of anthropologists within the framework of Operational Art, both past and present. It also asks whether the use of anthropologists for Operational Art is an ethical use of this discipline, for this has emerged as a major issue for anthropologists. It also will explore how best to use anthropologists, and what, if anything, Operational Art provides to anthropology. A historical look at the use of anthropologists and their data/analysis is featured in Appendix A. Appendix B examines recent Naval War College papers to divine contemporary insights into cultural awareness for Operational Art. Appendix C discusses some of the anecdotal reporting that demonstrates how commanders from tactical level to operational levels have come to regard the importance of anthropologists and of cultural awareness to their operations. Appendix D explores the ethical dilemmas and procedural successes/failures that challenge anthropologists in their soul-searching to support the government. Options that provide cultural awareness indirectly through anthropologists and others are discussed in Appendix E.