Military Operational Planning And Strategic Moves

This book employs game theory to warfare and in particular to military operations. It aims at scrutinizing the validity of the two ideas that have governed the literature on war and warfighting: One is the Clausewitzian Fog of War, which suggests that he who is able to "see" through the gunsmoke and observe his opponent’s moves before he has to commit to some strategy himself, should be able to gain an advantage over that enemy; the other is the tradition of understanding military conflict as a zero-sum game. Combined, these ideas seem to imply that war always gives rise to a second-mover advantage. This book questions the validity of this presumption at the operational level of military planning. It provides a simple but rigorous game-theoretic framework in order to analyse operational alternatives for a whole range of typical conflicts Western military forces are facing, including the most recent ones such as Anti-Access/Area-Denial and supporting host nations' counterinsurgency campaigns.

Recent assertions have been made that the nature of warfare in our current operating environment has changed in such a way that phasing in military operations has outlasted its utility and become problematic, requiring it to be eliminated or replaced in military planning. The problem this monograph attempts to evaluate and solve is whether or not phasing in U.S. Military doctrine and operational design still has utility in planning military operations, or if it should be eliminated or replaced by some other means of visualizing plans and arranging forces for military operations. Phasing has been utilized to assist U.S. Military commanders and planners to visualize plans and how forces should be arranged to conduct military operations and campaigns since the creation of operational design in the 1920's. Phasing has been applied in planning conventional as well as nonconventional military operations. Recent criticisms of phasing have surfaced in the aftermath of Operation Iraqi Freedom's failure to rapidly stabilize Iraq in Phase IV of the operation. This paper analyzes phasing through theoretical and historical influences to trace how it has become a part of operational design and planning. Phasing is described and defined in U.S. Military doctrine from its first appearance as a method to assist in planning in the 1920's to the present and historical examples are provided as examples of its use. Mao Tse Tung's use of phasing to visualize the strategy for conducting his Protracted War against Japan is analyzed to determine what influence it may have had on U.S. Military doctrine. Criticism of phasing and proposed alternatives are presented and scrutinized through Systems Theory, Complexity Theory, logic, and doctrine to evaluate the rationality for criticism and applicability of alternative methods for visualizing plans and arranging forces. Recent changes and modifications to phasing in U.S. Military doctrine are analyzed to understand the logic behind the changes. Emerging concepts such as Operational Net Assessment, Effects Based Operations, and Net-Centric Warfare are described and analyzed through a "system of systems" approach to understand both the positive and negative influences they are having on U.S. Military doctrine and phasing. A concept for "red teaming" is proposed as a method for establishing a foundation for understanding strategic and operational problems, synchronizing efforts, and coordinating between the U.S. Military, other government agencies, and non-government agencies to improve problem solving capabilities and integration of elements of national power. The influence emerging concepts are having on doctrine and their military applications are analyzed to determine how they can be used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of arranging forces through phasing in operational design. The principle findings and conclusions are that warfare in our current operating environment has not changed in such a way that has made it necessary to eliminate or replace phasing in military planning. Phasing is not a method for solving problems. Military operations or campaigns to solve problems should be visualized from start to finish in order create an understanding of what must be accomplished to achieve the desired end-state. Phasing should be utilized within the visualization of the plan to arrange forces in terms of resources, time, space and purpose to accomplish objectives that cannot be accomplished concurrently or require transition of efforts or forces within the plan. The phases of a plan should be analyzed holistically in order to understand the relationships between the phases and how actions in each phase will effect the others. Misuse, misunderstanding, and misapplication of phasing in military planning can lead to plans that fail to achieve strategic and operational end-states.

EU foreign policy has long been considered the exclusive domain of member states. This book challenges such state-centered wisdom by analyzing the influence of Brussels-based EU officials in the area of security and defence. Using case studies and unique insights from over a hundred interviews this book shows how everyday policy is made in practice

A description of wartime national planning and military strategy as they affected the missions and dispositions of the U.S. Army in the defensive phase of coalition warfare.

Military academies have served youth for more than a century with proud traditions of producing graduates who are scholars, leaders, and athletes who adhere to a code of honor and ethical principles as they take the knowledge, skills, and dispositions gained at those academies into higher education, the business world, military service, civic endeavors, and the broader workforce. There is a current gap and need for research that explores the various components of a K-20 military school/college education and how those components successfully produce leaders of character for our military, civic, academic, and business worlds both in the United States and abroad. The Handbook of Research on Character and Leadership Development in Military Schools synthesizes research on the impact of military academies by providing a singular compendium of current academic studies on the graduates of military academies and the communities of which they enter after graduation. The chapters will explore the academics, leadership, character development, citizenship, athletics, and other dimensions of both global and national, and both private and public, military academies. This book is ideal for current leaders, staffs, governing board members, and alumni of military academies both in the United States and internationally along with policymakers, government officials, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the implications of character and leadership development on individuals enrolled in or graduated from military schools.

On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines traces the history of the development of military staffs and ideas on the operational level of war and operational art from the Napoleonic Wars to today, viewing them through the lens of Prussia/Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States. B. A. Friedman concludes that the operational level of war should be rejected as fundamentally flawed, but that operational art is an accurate description of the activities of the military staff, an organization developed to provide the brainpower necessary to manage the complexity of modern military operations. Rather than simply serve as an intercession between levels, the military staff exists as an enabler and supporting organization to tacticians and strategists alike. On Operations examines the organization of military staffs, which has changed little since Napoleon’s time. Historical examinations of the functions staffs provided to commanders, and the disciplines of the staff officers themselves, leads to conclusions about how best to organize staffs in the future. Friedman demonstrates these ideas through case studies of historical campaigns based on the military discipline system developed.