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Title: Lifting the Fog of War by William A. Owens, Edward Offley, Bill, Owens ISBN: 0-8018-6841-6 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: December, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.54 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Soaring Insight with an (unfortunate) Journalistic Tether
Comment: Admiral Owens' recent book, Lifting the Fog of War, is a courageous, insider's explication of what's right and what's wrong with the Pentagon, today. It is a courageous statement because it breaks with the tradition that professional, senior military leaders do not criticize their contemporary professionals. Politicians, of course, certainly the civilians who challenge "professional military judgement" as the sole guide to designing and buying future military forces -- these have always been fair targets of American military professionals who turn to literature after they retire. And the book unfortunately has a few journalistic cheap shots. But what distinguishes it from journalism -- and makes this book a serious and significant work -- is the primary author's insights to the inner world of service parochialism. (One suspects Owens' collaborator on the book -- the journalist Ed Offley -- may be responsible for the slips into administration bashing and the newsy cliches.) It is a bold assessment of the central military problem currently faced by the United States; namely, a reluctance of the professional military leadership to accelerate the American Revolution in Military Affairs. Owens' description of the promise of information technology is brilliant and wise. Here is an in-depth explication of what could be done if the Pentagon had the courage and wisdom to move more expeditiously down the path it has already chosen. But it is more than a technological tour de force. The real power of the author's insight stems from his vision of the international political leverage the United States could gain from moving faster -- and why this would be good for the world. His specific recommendations at first seem a bit esoteric. Defense wonks will know what he's talking about immediately, but maybe not everybody. But they fit with the mainstream of the argument. And if the reader can avoid the diversions into journalism, they ought to end the book convinced the recommendations are right on and hoping Owens somehow gets tapped to be the next Secretary of Defense.
Rating: 5
Summary: A look at the Military use of Information technology
Comment: With the fall of the Soviet Union, American military forces are currently being reduced in size and misused, and the mission of our military is in confusion. How can we overcome this decline?
Throughout history, confusion on the battlefield has always been a problem. As history has progressed, weapons and tactics have become more sophisticated and deadly, and confusion is still a major problem. The next Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) can lift the fog of battlefield confusion and make our military stronger than ever with the limited resources we have. This new RMA is Information Technology. The U.S. has the capability to finally remove the confusion of war by employing multiple sensors and computers to give battlefield commanders, as well as individual soldiers, a clear real-time picture of what the enemy is doing.
Admiral Turner states a clear case as to how to utilize this new information technology to our advantage. In the Gulf War, we saw a glimpse of what Information Technology can do, but we have a long way to go to fully take advantage of the technology available as well as emerging technologies.
A fascinating read and I highly recommend this book for our government and military leaders. We have a golden opportunity to "Lift the Fog of War" and keep our military "Second to None".
Rating: 4
Summary: Getting out of date for the best of reasons...
Comment: ...the reality is catching up with the ideas projected by Admiral Owens! Battlefield communication, AirLand Battle and Operational Maneuver From the Sea are all part of the revolution (and that is no exageration) of the future that is now upon us and detailed in this book. How all this battlefield communication can be carried out are discussed, but picture it a bit this way - the Borg are here.
The American military have always operated on the idea that the individual private soldier (airman or Marine) is an archtype of the larger unit from the squad to the entire nation. A bit like fractals - each component looks like the larger unit. If the upper command are destroyed, each soldier knows what he is to do to accomplish the mission. How many times do we read of battles where companies are led not by captains but by the surviving corporal who knows the mission and takes over when required?
By lifting the fog of war thru extensive battlefield communication, each soldier, tank, fighting vehicle, attack helicopter, strike aircraft, mobile artillery piece, and commander knows what is happening, where, when, to whom. In the first Gulf War, a mobile gun would get 3rd- to 5th-hand data about a target and fire away hoping that the good guys had not moved onto the target area. Now, the good guys talk right to the gun crew and call in artillery as they need it. The same with aircraft and helicopter strikes.
The downside is that all these data are two-fold; first, the shear volume is overwhleming and available to too many levels of command. Like Nixon telephoning in a football play (yes, he did), the direction of the field can be shifted too high in the chain of command. A division commander in the field will usually be able to make a better decision than a general in Ft. Bragg, but each can now view action in real time via drones buzzing around the battlefield. It is the well controlled rear echelon general who can keep his yap shut when the action gets hot and heavy and offer help rather than opinion disguised as orders. (Oh the stories I have heard!) People can become saturated with the amount data and must learn to filter out the important from the interesting from the useless.
Second, the gear is sometimes trecherous. In Afghanistan, a trooper used his GPS to call in an airstrike. No big deal, easy as pie. Except that the batteries began to run low as he entered the target's coordinates. He popped out the old batteries, popped in new ones and sent the coordinates to the strike aircraft. Very cool - direct communication from the field to the strike! Except that he forgot, or was never told, that changing the batteries reset the GPS to HIS coordinates...Oops! You probably saw that one on CNN or Fox. "Incoming shrapnel!" Troops ducking behind mud walls, dead Americans and Afghans.
Still, the revolution means that the military of Viet Nam was as different from that of Desert Storm, as that of today is from Desert Storm. Glad to see it.
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Title: Technological Change and the Future of Warfare by Michael E. O'Hanlon, Michael Ohanlon ISBN: 0815764391 Publisher: The Brookings Institution Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Dynamics of Military Revolution, 1300-2050 by MacGregor Knox, Williamson Murray ISBN: 052180079X Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 27 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Winning the Next War: Innovation and the Modern Military (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs) by Stephen Peter Rosen ISBN: 0801481961 Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 1994 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Military Innovation in the Interwar Period by Williamson R. Murray, Allan R. Millett ISBN: 0521637600 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 13 August, 1998 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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Title: Post-Capitalist Society by Peter F. Drucker ISBN: 0887306616 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 13 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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