Command Dysfunction : Minding the Cognitive War

By Major Arden B. Dahl, USAF

Book Id: WPLBN0002170757
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 1.92 MB
Reproduction Date: 10/23/2012

Title:	Command Dysfunction : Minding the Cognitive War
Author:	Major Arden B. Dahl, USAF
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Military Science, Command and Control Warfare
Collections:	Authors Community, History
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Air University Press

Member Page:	Air University Press
Citation APA MLA Chicago Arden B. Dahl, Usa, B. M. (n.d.). Command Dysfunction : Minding the Cognitive War. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
This thesis analyzes the factors and conditions of command dysfunction from the cognitive, or mental, perspective of command and control warfare (C2W). The author examines the limitations of rational decision making and the tension that exists between rational and intuitive processes. Next, this thesis examines the vulnerabilities of rational and intuitive processes in order to build a cognitive warfare framework. The framework consists of three categories: the command baseline, stressors, and deception. The stressor and deception categories act on the command baseline. The analysis also suggests that there are a number of possible interactions that exist between the stressor and deception categories. This thesis uses the framework to analyze evidence of command dysfunction in three historical campaigns. The historical analyses study the German command during the Normandy Invasion, the Allied command during the first week of the Battle of the Bulge, and the Israeli command during the first half of the Arab-Israeli October 1973 War. In addition to showing that there are interactions between stressors and deception, the analyses highlight the importance of understanding the adversary’s command baseline. This thesis concludes that effective C2W is not so much what is done to an adversary’s command, but rather what he does to himself, perhaps with a little help.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . 1 DECISION PROCESSES . . . . . 7 CONSIDERING A COGNITIVE WARFARE FRAMEWORK . . . 23 THE NORMANDY INVASION . . . . 35 THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE . . . . . 51 THE OCTOBER 1973 WAR IN THE SINAI . . . . . 65 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS . . . . . 83