Defense Secretary Robert Gates addresses the crowd during a Landon Lecture at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas on 26 Nov 2007. (Read the full article)
Sec Gates makes a number of salient points that can be addressed by applying Cognetic thinking to develop a way to take on al-Qaeda ideologically.
Defeating terrorism will require the use of more “soft power,” with civilians contributing more in non-military areas like communication, economic assistance and political development, Pentagon chief Robert Gates said Monday.
“Based on my experience serving seven presidents, as a former director of CIA and now as secretary of defense, I am here to make the case for strengthening our capacity to use ‘soft’ power and for better integrating it with ‘hard’ power,” Gates said.
The lesson, Gates said, is that nontraditional conflict — against insurgents, guerrillas and terrorists — will be the mainstay of battlefields for years to come, requiring more than military power.
“Success will be less a matter of imposing one’s will and more a function of shaping behavior — of friends, adversaries and, most importantly, the people in between,” Gates told his audience of students, faculty and local residents.
In his speech, Gates said there is an urgent need to figure out how to better organize the government to meet the security challenges of the 21st century. Among shortcomings in the non-military area, Gates singled out U.S. strategic communications. He said the U.S. government is “miserable” at communicating its goals and policies to foreign audiences.
“It is just plain embarrassing that al-Qaida is better at communicating its message on the Internet than America,” he said. “Speed, agility and cultural relevance are not terms that come readily to mind when discussing U.S. strategic communications.”
Snop's Commentary:
In summary, Sec Gates is saying that to effectively deal with long term "non-traditional conflicts", we need to shift our emphasis from (hard power) to (soft power). This entails bolstering our ability to shape behavior by effectively communicating with audiences that are key to achieving our long term security goals.
Sec Gates is articulating the thoughts held by many but acted on by few.
So what are we missing? Why can't we engage effectively?
We lack a common operating picture or a shared, systematic way to conceptualize, communicate, and carry out this type of ideological war which requires employing (soft power) effectively.
Cognetics fills this void and gives us a way to employ (soft power) as a maneuver weapon capable of mass influence. Currently, Al-Qaeda's makes effective use of the Internet and Transnational TV as a weaponized form of strategic communications. Its time to learn from them and begin taking their advantage away. (Ref Air & Space and Power Journal Winter 2007 pp. 102-104 . note: reading the full article will help you understand following section better)
Cognetics is based on five principles of maneuver warfare:
Principle One: Speed and Surprise to Pit Strength against Weakness
Principle Two: Tempo
Principle Three: Decentralized Control
Principle Four: Fingerspitzengefuhl (Intuitively knowing the best time to act)
Principle Five: Schwerpunkt (Center of Gravity or focus of Effort)
In terms of cognetics, successfully applying these principles requires first knowing the Schwerpunkt to bring a decentralized group together for a common cause. Once each independent element of the group understands the focus of effort, it is free to act according to the on-scene commander’s feel for the situation (Fingerspitzengefuhl).
Doing so helps the entire enterprise achieve harmony of action, allowing on-scene commanders to take the initiative, control tempo, and maximize speed and surprise to pit strength against weakness when opportunities present themselves.
In today’s relentless media environment, employing these principles will enable national-security policy makers to first see and understand the contours and dynamics of the Cognetic Age. Once they understand, they will find themselves in a better position to mitigate cognetic effects and employ cognetic thinking to wage ideological warfare.
How can the US Government its allies and citizenry use this thinking to formulate a way to engage al-Qaeda at the same game? I'd like to offer four broad courses of action to consider.
1) The President acts as the lead communicator backed up by each government agency that can best service each audience set harmonizing them all with Cognetics so they all have the same conceptual picture and language to carryout ideological warfare.
2) The President acts as the lead communicator backed up by a flat task force with representatives from each government agency empowered with the ability to quickly communicate themes and messages when opportunities arise. Harmonizing them all with Cognetics so they all have the same conceptual picture and language to carryout ideological warfare.
3) The President acts as the lead communicator backed up a decentralized constellation of like minded individuals inside and outside the government well placed to create the desired audience effects. Harmonizing them all with Cognetics so they all have the same conceptual picture and language to carryout ideological warfare.
4) No leader, start a mass movement of like minded people (Think climate change). Need principles that resonate like those at our founding (same principles?? Maybe.. maybe not), Carryout a influence campaign with the precision and intensity of a Presidential campaign. Harmonizing them all with Cognetics so they all have the same conceptual picture and language to carryout ideological warfare.
Tell me what you think...
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