Perspectives on Technology & Transformation

John Arquilla MIT’s Technology Review interviews John Arquilla, one of the people who pioneered the idea of “The Revolution In Military Affairs” (aka. transformation, network-centric warfare). It notes: “Yet what if the Pentagon’s big platforms weren’t merely the wrong weapon systems to fight present and future wars, but actually likely to bring defeat? John Arquilla, one of the military intellectuals who created and promoted the concept of “transformation” for the U.S. military, believes that may be the case. Arquilla teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, and is a RAND consultant and a Pentagon advisor. His publications include Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime, and Militancy, [see also shorter paper], In Athena’s Camp: Preparing for Conflict in the Information Age and the forthcoming The Reagan Imprint: Ideas in American Foreign Policy from the Collapse of Communism to the War on Terror.” Agree or disagree, he’s always worth reading. Here are a few more recent articles that tie into the Arquilla article’s points. or feature additional thought-provoking material and ideas which could impact military procurement down the road. * Belmont Club (March 20/06) – More GWOT Documents Are Released. Arquilla mentions data mining, and Belmont Club notes […]