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Defense Analysis Professors Offer Fresh Perspectives on the Design of Warfare
U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Patrick Dionne

Defense Analysis Professors Offer Fresh Perspectives on the Design of Warfare

By MC2 Patrick Dionne

Faculty in the 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 (NPS) Department of Defense Analysis (DA), Drs. John Arquilla and Nancy Roberts have brought their own unique perspectives to a concept gaining traction in defense circles, collaborating on the release of a new monograph entitled 鈥淒esign of Warfare.鈥

鈥淭he purpose of this monograph is to give people in the warfighting business a better understanding of how to design for warfare,鈥 said Roberts. 鈥淒esigning includes several elements such as doctrine; how the warfighting units are structured; how information is shared; and what technology is employed. All these elements can be combined and configured into different designs depending on the situation and the context.

鈥淭his monograph challenges people to stop and think, 鈥榃hat are we doing? Why are we doing this?鈥 And this needs to be done for every intervention,鈥 stressed Roberts. 鈥淔or our students here, and those who read this monograph, we try to give them some basic knowledge to help them understand what options they have.鈥

The 70-page monograph offers several examples from history that provide evidence to the authors鈥 call to the importance of design.

鈥淚 think both of us, in the course of our work together, have come to realize that war is fundamentally a design challenge,鈥 said Arquilla. 鈥淚t may not always be framed that way ... Some people think it is all about force, and for a very long time, people used the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force as a prime example.

鈥淏ut from a design perspective, we look deeper than that and realize that the stronger and more technologically-advanced side has lost in the past, with sheer destruction often failing to achieve policy and strategic goals,鈥 Arquilla continued. 鈥淭he key takeaway here is that design matters ... It is important not only to look at the great strategic successes in war, but also to look at the failures of design.鈥

The monograph has been sent out to leading military educational institutions and selected communities in defense and intelligence, both U.S. agencies and our allies, which have 鈥減rovided a lot of enthusiastic feedback and support from those who have read it so far,鈥 Arquilla notes.

鈥淭his monograph really points to the importance of design here at NPS which is something that is a well-kept secret that we are really trying to make much more visible,鈥 added Roberts. 鈥淲e have many students here really interested in design, and we would like to put NPS on the map especially for our work in strategic design. It would be our value-added contribution to the design community. Our network of contacts make us uniquely-positioned to be a hub in strategic design for issues of defense and national security.鈥

With the completion of the monograph, Arquilla and Roberts are moving to publish a second study on grand strategy that is currently in the works. It will look at the history of grand strategy, over an expanded period, from different perspectives, countries and military situations with hopes of adding a design perspective.
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