Working Model for Considering Civil Military Operations From the Command (and Control) Perspective

摘要

This paper will examine command and control challenges of CMOs from American military doctrinal perspectives; in that respect it must remain culturally restricted in its conclusions. Nonetheless, such an exploration is useful for all militaries to examine if for no other reason than that the Americans engage in CMOs frequently. What makes this paper unique is that it will introduce the theory of adaptive cycles, a robust and valid social- ecological approach to understanding human and natural interacting systems, as a framework from which to explore CMO behavior. The paper assesses the utility of the application of Adaptive Cycle theory to understanding CMOs, with special focus on command and control processes associated with the operations. Specifically, it will evaluate whether the claims of the theory concerning organizational strategies for managing the dynamics of complex human and natural change also hold for the class of civil-military operations. If the findings of Adaptive Cycle theory appear to fit the case of civil military operations, then one can apply the major recommendation from Adaptive Cycle theory concerning command and control to these operations. The short version of that command and control recommendation can be summarized as this: keep C2 processes simple and operational goals modest.