|
| |
General Larry D. Welch, USAF (ret.)
12th Chief of Staff, USAF
Retired President of IDA
There is a clear understanding and agreement that
information technology has wide application to success in warfare. Some of the
applications exist. Others are clearly useful and already being acquired. The
military utility of some others, however, is not nearly as clear. To ensure that
the current search for a Network Centric way of war returns military utility,
the many issues involved, both technological and military, need to be subjected
to a thorough scrutiny and debate. This book sits squarely in the middle of that
necessary debate.
Its major contribution to the ongoing debate is a critical
look at the evolving doctrine of Network Centric Warfare. The author employs the
art of systems analysis to construct an intellectual structure that extrapolates
the Cold War technology acquisition process to current and future circumstances.
The book examines the natural limits that the character of war, including the
character of the human beings that wage war, imposes upon the military utility
of information technology. Exposing these limits to community discussion
illuminates the complex transformation that recent changes in the international
security environment are demanding from our defense establishment. Reading this
book is a valuable undertaking, even if one does not agree with all of the
points made in its pages.
|
