Published: 1 June 2008
Air & Space Power Journal - Summer 2008

Information Age Transformation: Getting to a 21st Century Military by David S. Alberts. Department of Defense Command and Control Research Program (http://www.dodccrp.org), Washington, DC, 2002, 145 pages. Free download available at http://www.dodccrp.org/files/Alberts_IAT.pdf.

Information Age Transformation offers a thoughtful look at challenges to the Department of Defense (DOD) as it incorporates the ongoing revolution in information technology. The book’s author, Dr. ­David Alberts, director of research for the assistant secretary of defense, has published or coauthored

multiple books on command and control (C2) and technology topics. This book is a rewritten and updated version of his study Unintended Consequences of Information Age Technologies (1996). In that National Defense University publication, Alberts argues for an effective DOD technology-insertion strategy to maximize the positive contributions of the information revolution and the evolution to an “Information Age organization” (p. 2). Information Age Transformation updates terminology and combines the themes of network-centric warfare (NCW) with recommendations on how to think about and accommodate change, specifically changes brought on by improved information flows.

Dr. Alberts expresses his concern that we have not given enough consideration to all aspects of incorporating new information capabilities. In his opinion, factors such as organization and training often receive short shrift while the material aspect of the technology itself receives the lion’s share of attention. Identifying the military’s concept of C2 as one of the greatest roadblocks to fully exploiting new capabilities, he suggests a process of consultation, collaboration, and convergence as an optimum C2 model for fully exploiting the information age, particularly in a joint and combined environment.

Information Age Transformation contains a brief recap of the DOD’s publications and some still-­unanswered questions about the information revolution, followed by a collection of the author’s thoughts on the best way for the department to exploit opportunities yet avoid adverse consequences. The book makes the significant proposition that the onslaught of new information-age technologies will revolutionize military organizations and the very concept of command (p. 49). Although Alberts touches on a significant number of NCW issues, he does not offer a list of recommendations so much as he conducts a philosophical exercise to allow leaders to appreciate conditions needed to take advantage of opportunities and avoid pitfalls of greatly improved information sharing in military operations.

One can clearly appreciate the author’s vision of an information-rich future in which every military element has access to an endless sea of data/awareness and can employ a collaborative-and-convergence approach, versus a C2 system, leading to an all-knowing, “self-synchronizing” force (p. 40). This transformed military may have given rise to the quick victory against Iraq’s military in 2003. The means by which these information-technology transformations enhance phases of military operations before and after major combat operations has not proven as obvious. I wonder if any information system or command paradigm can compensate for the challenge of identifying quality information from the outset.

Information Age Transformation does examine issues associated with “the quality and distribution of information within the organization—its richness, its reach, and the quality of the interactions” (p. viii). The author’s observations regarding information flows and the impact on organizations are instructive, as are his recommendations regarding experimentation—the need for integrated planning and a more holistic approach to acquisition and integration. As a review of some of the issues the DOD faces as it struggles to incorporate all the potential of the information age, Dr. Alberts’s short book would appeal to department members engaged in experimentation, test and evaluation, and the design or acquisition of C2 systems.

Lt Col Darren D. Medlin, USAF
Air Force Fellow
Santa Monica, California

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.

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