 | By: Wayne M. Hall
Reviewed By: LTC Roger Cirillo, USA (Ret.)
The overwhelming victory of U.S. forces in Iraq in defeating a numerically superior foe has already spawned a cottage industry of "lessons learned," "military imperatives for the future" and a call for a newly-designed force to abandon what ill-informed critics have called, "the old style" of war.
While the "experts" sort their thoughts, professionals are well advised to note something that we have pondered for a long time -- the role of "knowledge war."
Its principal tool -- information operations -- is already taught in the Army school system, but no single, understandable primer on what it is, how it affects warfare at the operational and strategic levels, and a guide for the way ahead for the Army's cyber warriors exists.
Until now.
Brig. Gen. Wayne Michael "Mike" Hall, USA, Ret., has added a key volume for the professional's bookshelf in Stray Voltage: War in the Information Age published as an AUSA book by the United States Naval Institute Press.
In his 219-page book, he covers the essence of knowledge war, from its role as part of decision process, to how the national will is endangered by an enemy seeking to disrupt and dominate American society in our homeland.
Attacks via the Internet, not kinetic energy weaponry launched in conventional battle, pose the greatest threat to our security Hall believes. This war's terrain will be in cyberspace, navigated through fiber optics, or transmitted on radio frequencies.
Its future nonhuman warriors, "cyberbots," composed of super-sophisticated, self-learning software programs, will be the asymmetric warrior's weapon of choice.
Failing to achieve dominance in the "point and shoot" world of weaponry, knowledge will be a new battlefield for the asymmetric warrior and for numbers of poor terrorists; you don't need an army to participate.
The world's terrorists have already begun such operations and, as it may be surmised, knowledge operations will also be a key part of conventional operations.
Hall describes the decision cycle process including the steps needed to slow down or incapacitate an opponent's ability to decide and act, making an enemy's command apparatus a "center of gravity."
He breaks the mold of the traditional war game model in his assessment of the modern requirements for war-gaming in a knowledge-centered activity pointing not only to new requirements for intellectual capacities, but also indicating where future technology may take the military profession.
Stray Voltage is a must for strategists, defense intellectuals, and field grade officers seeking a wider understanding of the military's future war challenges.
It should become a necessary part of every officer's educational reading. |