Recognizing What is Useful

摘要

We, the U.S. military, used Space extensively in battle for the first time during the first Gulf war, and in it, we learned how Space might be used, but we have yet to learn all of how it can be used. I base my statement on the continuing debate over whether Space is a medium, a mission or both. Space can be a great enabler to many missions. Foremost among those I believe to be Information Operations. When we learn how to coordinate Space capabilities with Information Operations we may be able to move beyond a leap to armed conflict in world relations or at the very least mitigate the damage resulting from relationships that lead to strife. Theories concerning international relationships, like sand on the beach, are based on an ever changing slate of causes and effects requiring constant re-evaluation of our conclusions. If in the future we as a nation are to be successful in our goal to provide safety and security for our citizens we must recognize the changes and challenges now taking place and not merely react to those changes but actively work to forge ahead of events in order to shape them. The nature of warfare does not change. New advances in technology or developments in organizational structure still have the same goal; defense of the nation. However, advancements in technology and mutations of social organization do play important roles on the battlefield. At the beginning of the Industrial age, America was still fielding armies with pre-Industrial age field formations. We had clearly not kept pace with technology and we paid with heavy losses in our own Civil War. The United States fought a Napoleonic style war with emerging Industrial age weaponry.