374. Fifth Generation Combat: SubTerranean Ops in Singapore

Urban environments’ physical environment characteristics present unique challenges in any of their three dimensions of above, below, or at ground level. Maneuver, protection, intelligence gathering, communications, fires, and battle damage assessment are among the issues. Vertical and subterranean features will disrupt line-of-sight (LOS), complicating situational awareness, increasing risk, and requiring adaptive leaders trained and practiced in the nuances of mission command.” — TRADOC Pamphlet 525-92-1, The Changing Character of Warfare: The Urban Operational Environment, April 2020, p. 19.

[Editor’s Note:  Storytelling — creative fictional writing and narrative building — is one of the tools Army Mad Scientist uses to help the Army explore how concepts, technologies, and other capabilities could be employed and operationalized. As previously shared by proclaimed Mad Scientists and best-selling authors P.W. Singer and August Cole, narrative effectively packages information the way our brains are designed to absorb it, creating lasting messages. By connecting information to our emotions, narrative is more likely to promote action. People are driven to share narratives, leading the audience to become part of its marketing. This virality contributes to the creation of a network of people with increased understanding of potential futures.

Mad Scientist Laboratory is pleased to feature today’s guest post by the Radio Research Group, with their compelling story about the challenges a Special Operations team face in executing a SubTerranean (SubT) mission beneath Dense Urban Terrain in the future Operational Environment.  Degraded situational awareness and comms, lethal autonomous weapons, psychotropic gas, and a transparent battlefield, all wrapped within Great Power Competition — Aqsa and her SubT Quantum Team 1  “embrace the suck,” adapt, and overcome to execute their harrowing mission and exploit their target beneath the streets of Singapore — Read on!]

SubT Quantum Team 1, Singapore

The utility tunnel stretched deep into the dark, industrial nest of cables and pipes. Infrared illuminators lit up the subterranean tropical humidity with beams of vicious light. Sounds of quiet footsteps filled the tunnel, the squad of women walked silently, specifically selected and trained for SubTerranean (SubT) combat.

Aqsa paused to sip water from her Camelbak, adjusting her night vision. It’s damned hot, she thought to herself, kitted out in ceramic body armour, laden with weapons and comms gear.

Her Next Generation Squad Weapon sat heavy in her hands, made by Sig Sauer and running plastic-cased 6.8mm ammunition.

Freaking ridiculous, Aqsa thought to herself, looking down at the heavy rifle, a relic of the War on Terror. The least useful piece of kit we have. Give me a Glock and a more powerful tactical computer. 

She stood amidst a battle of bits and qubits, a combat of influence and electromagnetic dominance. In fifth generation warfare, a tiny 6.8mm projectile was meaningless — dead weight.

Aqsa and her battalion were a select group of female warriors, specially trained in SubT combat and infiltration. The women came from a diverse background of computer scientists, physicists, cryptographers, and even a digital artist — true modern warriors.

Going Hot! Smoke, Smoke, Smoke!” whispers from the point woman filled Aqsa’s earpiece.

An explosion of light filled the tunnel; each member flipped up their night vision devices. She removed her SGE gas mask, lifting parts of her combat hijab to assure a good seal. She checked her rebreather status with her flexible ATAK (Android Team Awareness Kit) display strapped around her forearm.

The Breacher stabilized an oxygen acetylene torch, and the tunnel filled with toxic smoke.

Each member of the twelve woman unit was kitted out with ELABS (Extreme Limited Access Breathing Systems). These units were SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) systems specifically designed for SubT combat. A single thermobaric grenade could remove the oxygen from an entire tunnel network, hence the need for ELABS.

The Point woman held a bulletproof barricade behind the Breacher, in case someone fired through the locked door. She looked down at her E-INK (Electronic Ink) ATAK wrist display; inertial guidance placed them just meters from their target.

Aqsa looked up at the conduits above, bundles of wires, ethernet, and quantum encrypted fiber snaked above. One of these was their target. She wished they could simply cut and splice the damned cable, then and there. Lives had been taken for this mission, and it was never as simple as just “a simple splice” — not in a post-quantum key cryptography world.

Breach, Breach, Breach!” came through Aqsa’s bone conduction headset. The torch was silenced, and a sledgehammer sounded out upon a door. “Alarm tripped, Mark!

A drone was thrown into the room.

Fifteen seconds,

Clear!

The women flooded the new chamber, trained since childhood for a mission like this.

Slow is Smooth. Smooth is fast. Aqsa worked her feet and her rifle as she entered the room. A flashlight was lit, and her night vision came off, revealing a tightly confined server room.

Nothing, no enemy, no weapons, just servers and bundles of wires.

The air was still trash, so with her gas mask fogged out, Aqsa moved up to the shimmering server rack. A large cable snaked up through the floor.

The HASEX-1 (Hong Kong and Singapore Exchange) fiber optic cable stared back at Aqsa, front and center. The bright orange cable glistened in their headlamps at the center of the room. The cable had been built by “private investors” to reduce latency between the two most active stock markets in the world. Samples of the fiber optics “borrowed” during manufacture showed a completely new crystalline structure, something far more clear and stable than anything coming out of Asia before.

Intel was convinced it was being used as part of an elicit quantum command and control network — an Asian quantum MILNET. The elegance of quantum encryption is that a simple “wiretap” destroys the quantum state. With current understandings of physics, it’s unbreakable, as observing the information destroys it.

But Aqsa, like the rest of her colleagues knows that nothing is “unbreakable” — there is always a way. Aqsa wrote her PhD on the topic. She kneeled down before the shimmering server rack, or a Quantum multiplexer, to be more precise. She retrieved a small black box from her belt, and plugged it into her SDR (Software Defined Radio). A temperature was displayed on her ATAK display.

Near absolute zero degrees kelvin.

Aqsa set the portable quantum computer atop the fiber optic multiplexer, and plugged in a dangling CAT-7 running from the portable quantum computer.

The multiplexer rebooted. Logs began appearing on her display. Aqsa wiped the sweat from the outside of her gas mask. She looked down to her ATAK display trapped to her arm, code scrolled up the 30 Hz, full color, flexible display.

The display was hooked up to her SDR.  It held a considerable amount of computing power, which in this case was being used to run an exploit model on a commercially manufactured ethernet switch.

Intel couldn’t provide the manufacturer of the switch, but if it is not SSITH (Systems Security Integration Through Hardware and firmware)-certified, or used commercial cryptography in any way, Aqsa would break it.

We’ve got company, automated, entering the tunnel” the head ISR officer sounded out calmly, “Five units, verified enemy.

The sounds of safeties flicked off, as two Soldiers surrounded an Israeli-made ballistic barricade in front of the door.

Nav looked to Aqsa, “Time?

She looked down at her display, not every model had run, but the switch wasn’t cracking. The model was being run across all of her unit’s tactical SDRs, using the MANET (Mobile Ad Hoc Network) as a distributed computing network. “Unknown — It’s not using a commercial curve or known zero days. We haven’t seen this level of security before.

ISR looked down to her display, “We’ve gotta go!

Aqsa made a quick decision, unstrapping her SDR, unplugging her display and removing velcro patch antennas from her shoulders. She tucked the radio into the server rack, leaving the antennas at random locations behind the server.

She plugged her display and comms cables into her backup SDR located on the back of her plate carrier, and ran the new patches.

A feeling of intense anxiety crept over the team. The exploit had failed — for now, and enemy forces had entered the tunnel.

Lights out!

The server room descended into darkness, as Aqsa flipped on her night vision.

Comms check,” Her radio synchronized with the MANET using spread spectrum LPI/ LPD (Low Probability of Intercept / Low Probability of Detection) waveforms.

Roger,” her colleague retorted back.

An ISR notification pinged across the MANET, detecting a slight decrease in electronic background  noise entropy. Someone, or something was transmitting encrypted data nearby.  Our local instance of EWIRDB (Electronic Warfare Integrated Reprogramming Database) declared it was most likely a Red-made generic SDR, a copy of a Persistent Systems unit, and was attempting to jam.

Visual Contact!

Several robotic grenades were thrown into the tunnel. Gunfire erupted.

Gas, Gas, Gas!” someone yelled. “AQGR-12” flashed across their wrist screens.

Aqsa’s skin began to tingle. While technically non-lethal, the nerve agent AQGR-12 caused a strange sensation on any open skin. If inhaled, it would cause intense, nightmarish psychedelic effects. While local teenagers had been reported to take the nerve agent for fun, it would mark certain death in a tactical situation requiring the utmost mental clarity.

Aqsa checked her gas mask, and ensured everyone’s ELAB was running nominally from her ATAK display.

One of the robotic grenades exploded on target as a nightmarish scene unfolded in the tunnel ahead.

Formation!” the point woman yelled, showing a hand signal for a charge. Two women fired semi-automatic Benelli shotguns into the void. Command had refused to purchase shotguns, arguing they had already made a significant investment in new 6.8mm assault weapons. The automatic shotguns had to be “smuggled” into their unit from the States. Counter robotic units had found them to be invaluable.

Gunfire erupted from ahead, slamming into the self-healing, ballistic barrier. Another robotic grenade went off, then gunfire stopped.

Aqsa, now working to control her breathing, checked her display. Still connected via 60 GHz MANET to the quantum computer in the server room. The exploit had made its way into the ethernet controller using a cracked certificate, and was working on the multiplexer’s CPU. A popup appeared: “Success, rebooting…”

Exploit Delivered, Nice job ladies!” Aqsa whispered into her radio. She triggered a self-destruct of the SDR.

The exploit was complex, and classified to everyone except Aqsa. It would take months to know if it had worked.

Now it was time to get the hell out.

The unseen UAU (Unknown Autonomous Unit) fired an infrared dazzler, destroying nearly everyone’s night vision devices. If everyone hadn’t been wearing UV shielded gas masks, the entire team would have been blinded. Most of the unit flicked up their destroyed NVDs. White headlamps flicked on. A bright spotlight illuminated the tunnel ahead from atop the handheld barricade.

Someone threw a flare into the smoky, noxious gas filled void. The visible flash from the dazzler was still wearing off. They were going in blind.

Another autonomous grenade went off.

ISR: “We’ve still got signal!

Someone on point fired their machine gun. A shotgun blast. They charged forward, passing the destroyed ruins of an unnamed bipedal vehicle of Asian origin. Aqsa fired two shots into the AU for good measure. Asian script marked the side with the name “Dot.”

A soft thump echoed through the chamber, Grenade!

An explosion.

Aqsa screamed as she was knocked on her fourth point of contact. Her Team Wendy helmet scraped against cement. She heard her colleagues crying out, someone lost their gas mask, inhaling the psychoactive atmosphere.

More gunfire.

Aqsa steadied herself, grabbing a second level barricade. The first layer had been wiped out. Three of her colleagues were down.

I need backup here, three down. Taking point!” Aqsa held up the barricade and moved forward. Two of her team joined behind and fired through the barricade, launching two more robotic grenades. An Explosion.

ISR: “Signal Gone, No movement!

Aqsa reached the staircase to the surface, retrieving the robotic grenades and clipping them to her plate carrier. Their rear ISR drone floated above the spiral staircase in the smoke, its LED lights flashing the “friendly” color code for the day. Their medic, who had inhaled some of the toxins, had been sedated and was now under oxygen — but not before she confirmed two of her colleagues KIA, and applied medical aid (still hallucinating) to another.

They carried the bodies of their downed teammates behind them and hoisted the corpses up the staircase.

Tunnel Exfil represented the gutted server room of a bombed out highrise. Clearly the AUs had located their position. The probability that the AUs had gotten a message out from the tunnel (during active jamming) was calculated by ATAK to be at least 10%. It was time to send a sitrep to command, and get the hell back to FOB Bali.

Aqsa stripped off her gas mask, without checking CBRN, and nearly finished the contents of her Camelbak.

Watch out for your hands and face,” Aqsa spoke into her bone mic. “The Chems are active for 12 hours unless neutralized. Comms?

Comms: “I’ve got nothing on the uplink.” While their local MANET was live, and extremely difficult to jam (due to the short range of 60 GHz), SATCOMs had been taken out months ago. Low earth orbit had gone full Kessler, meaning the cascading effect of a few anti-sat missiles had caused every single object in low earth orbit to be completely obliterated.

No GNSS, no Comms, no LEO ISR. The remaining SATCOMS in geostationary, and even arctic elliptical were blown. While SOCOM was working on launching a few interplanetary optical relays (Try shooting SATCOMs out in Legrange points, Reds!), such deployments were still months away.

Allied forces at that point in time relied on a “Targeting Mesh,” made up of millions of small drones for ISR and comms.

The only problem was that the Targeting Mesh wasn’t there!

Aqsa sat down in a rubble covered office chair, her headlamp glowing red, night vision fried by the IR dazzler. The office building’s ceiling had collapsed, posters lined what was left of the walls encouraging workers to “Wear a Mask”, and “Social Distance”. She laughed, and looked over to Comms, who had stripped off her gas mask and was working a Harris SDR from a tablet.

We need to get outside,” Comms looked up to Aqsa, who was now in command. “It’s like the Mesh isn’t even there. Even HF is out. No Barrage Jamming, just silence.

There was only one way to get a message back to command, and it was insane. “Get me the latest sky charts,” Aqsa ordered Comms, opening Google Earth on her tablet, “You know what I’m thinking. SOCOM is going to be pissed!

ISR instructed each member of the team to remove their Israeli-made Fobrotex “GhostHoods.” These were essentially near and long range infrared camouflage ghillie suits, designed to conceal from enemy UAVs. The entire lightweight suit could fit into a small pocket. While these units would not protect from synthetic aperture, Red targeting computers relied mostly on thermal and visual signatures (and heavily modified OpenCV). Head ISR adjusted the GhostHoods on each of the members, draping them over the bodies of KIA.

With a plan in place, the women moved out of the office building, and into a back exit behind the office building (or at least what was left of the building). The Singaporean sky was dark, rubble and burned vehicles littered the streets. The husk of a Boston Dynamics robot lay melted and contorted.

Lightning flickered in the distant dry summer heat.

The single woman left with night vision looked up and shrieked. Aqsa squinted to see a perfectly distributed mesh of drones, slowly moving overhead. These were tagged with red LEDs, designed to induce fear in the enemy. Allied drones move pseudo randomly, this looked like a perfect beehive of aerial dominance. Aqsa had never seen something more nightmare inducing. She had seen a meme of something similar just a few days before. The first thing she thought was They are superior, then shook off the thought. It was a relic of subconscious programming, internet memes designed to hack her OODA loop.

Aqsa swore out loud. The Allied targeting mesh was obliterated.

Relax ladies,” ISR whispered over the MANET, “Red Coherent Change is garbage, and with these suits we will be very hard to detect.” The Suits were designed with a camouflage pattern designed to trick computer vision systems. “Just move slow, we are close to our target!

The output power of their MANET was reduced to below 1 watt, bringing their IP based conversations far below the noise floor of enemy sensors.

A deserted city park lay ahead, and a perimeter was set up. The city was crawling with UAUs, every member of the unit was scared. This wasn’t mechanized warfare, it was autonomous unmanned warfare. Bringing a human to a UAU fight is worse than fighting a machine gun position with a butter knife.

Comms unfolded a small, portable microwave SATCOM antenna, and aimed it below a gap between two buildings. Incredible thunderclouds rolled above. The Enemy targeting mesh remained unmoving, the thunderclouds rolling through and blurring the floating spots of red. Aqsa removed a SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) smoke grenade from her pouch marked “KA Band,” and adjusted the timer.

A crescent moon smiled above them, almost perfectly vertical, being observed from equatorial Singapore.

What on Earth are we aiming at?” A team member asked.

Comms retorted back, “It’s not on Earth, we are aiming for the Moon,” she smiled, the Harris SDR established a microwave data link at full power. Aqsa pulled the pin on the SAR grenade.

A message decrypted across Aqsa’s wrist screen

SURFACE VESSELS, TARGET MESH DESTROYED. 7TH FLEET WIPED OUT. UUV MAKING WAY TO YOUR POSITION INDIA FOR EXFIL UNIFORM ZULU. ETA 72 HOURS GODSPEED

Aqsa looked up to the heavens, and prayed. They were to head by underwater, autonomous vehicle deep into the jungles of Indonesia…

If you enjoyed this post, check out the following related content:

Realer than Real: Useful Fiction with P.W. Singer and August Cole, and associated podcast 

Dense Urban Hackathon – Virtual Innovation, Dense Urban Environments (DUE): Now through 2050, A Chinese Perspective on Future Urban Unmanned Operations, and TRADOC Pamphlet 525-92-1, The Changing Character of Warfare: The Urban Operational Environment

Strategic Latency Unleashed! by Dr. Zachary S. Davis, Going on the Offensive in the Fight for the Future, and associated podcast

How does the Army – as part of the Joint force – Build and Employ Teams to Compete, Penetrate, Disintegrate, and Exploit our Adversaries in the Future?, The Convergence: The Future of Talent and Soldiers with MAJ Delaney Brown, CPT Jay Long, and 1LT Richard Kuzma, and associated podcast

New Skills Required to Compete & Win in the Future Operational EnvironmentWarfare in the Parallel Cambrian Age, by Chris O’Connor; Character of Warfare 2035; The Future of War is Cyber! by CPT Casey Igo and CPT Christian TurleyMilitary Implications of Smart Cities, by Alexander Braszko, Jr.; and Integrated Sensors: The Critical Element in Future Complex Environment Warfare, by Dr. Richard Nabors

Quantum Surprise on the Battlefield? by proclaimed Mad Scientist Elsa B. Kania

Space: Challenges and Opportunities and Star Wars 2050, by proclaimed Mad Scientist Marie Murphy 

Top Attack: Lessons Learned from the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War with COL John Antal (USA-Ret.), its associated podcast, Nowhere to Hide: Information Exploitation and Sanitization, and War Laid Bare, by Matthew Ader

Alternate Futures 2050: A Collection of Fictional Wartime Vignettes, by LTC Steve Speece; Kryptós by proclaimed Mad Scientist CPT Katherine Hathaway; AN41, by proclaimed Mad Scientist BG Jasper Jeffers, and Takeaways from the Mad Scientist Science Fiction Writing Contest 2019

>>>> REMINDER 1:  Army Mad Scientist Fall / Winter Writing Contest: Crowdsourcing is an effective tool for harvesting ideas, thoughts, and concepts from a wide variety of interested individuals, helping to diversify thought and challenge conventional assumptions. Army Mad Scientist seeks to crowdsource the intellect of the Nation (You!) with our Fall / Winter Writing Contest’s two themes — Back to the Future and Divergence – check out the associated writing prompts in the contest flyer and announcement, then get busy crafting your submissions — entries will be accepted in two formats:

Written essay (no more than 1500 words, please!)

Tweet @ArmyMadSci, using either #MadSciBacktotheFuture or #MadSciDivergence

We will pick a winner from each of these two formats!

Contest Winners will be proclaimed official Mad Scientists and be featured in the Mad Scientist Laboratory.  Semi-finalists of merit will also be published!

DEADLINE: All entries are due NLT 11:59 pm Eastern on January 10, 2022!

Any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us — send us an eMail at: madscitradoc@gmail.com

>>>> REMINDER 2:  Army Mad Scientist is pleased to support the Army and its Army People Synchronization Conference (APSC) in January 2022. To that end, we’re sponsoring the associated writing contest in support of this critical endeavor prioritizing the Army Team (Soldiers, Department of the Army Civilians, their dependents, and Soldiers for Life).

[NOTE: This is not to be confused with the aforementioned and separate Army Mad Scientist Fall / Winter Writing Contest, described in Reminder 1, above.]

Check out this APSC writing contest’s details here.

We will feature the winning submission and author in a future Mad Scientist Laboratory blog post. Additionally, we will compile it, along with other submissions of merit, and provide copies to Senior Army Leadership attending the Army People Synchronization Conference.

So get cracking — craft a 500 word composition over the Holiday Season addressing one or more of the writing prompts listed in the contest details and submit it via email with “APSC” in the subject line NLT 1700 EDT on 03 January 2022, to: madscitradoc@gmail.com

About the Authors:  The Radio Research Group is a collection of experts in wireless mesh networking, electronic warfare, privacy, blockchain and decentralized systems. The group focuses particularly on fifth generation warfare, and the convergence of new technologies as they define modern conflict.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Army Futures Command (AFC), or U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

373. Are We Ready for the Post-digital Hyper-war?

A post on the forthcoming war for Information Advantage, Decision Superiority, and Cognitive Dominance

[Editor’s Note:  Earlier this year, Dr. Russell Glenn‘s Sub-threshold Maneuver and the Flanking of U.S. National Security post addressed how our adversaries are seeking to shape and achieve their nefarious objectives below the threshold of kinetic conflict using cyber and information operations. As noted, countering this “sub-threshold maneuver” will require a sea change in how we organize and apply our U.S. National Security structure to deter, and failing that, directly engage our adversaries in this new era of competition, crisis, and conflict.

Today’s provocative post by guest blogger Capt Martin Crilly, British Army, expands upon this theme to explore the challenges facing us in transforming for “post-digital hyper-war” — where kinetic engagements between exquisite, industrial age platforms may be rendered irrelevant by “more subtle, intellectual, and nuanced information, cyber, and cognitive influencing ‘soft power‘ capabilities.” While some may resist, preferring to cling to the traditional and familiar ways of warfare, “shrewd futurists see a whole host of new sunrise opportunities in the utility and application of a post-digital reimagined military, a completely redefined military equipped with a whole host of new capabilities to fight this post-digital strategic competition.” Read on to learn more about Capt Crilly’s prescription for winning the forthcoming hyper-war!]

Consensus on the definition of the post-digital era has yet to be found.  Some suggest it is the twilight of a time when everything has become digital, a pervasive epoch, simultaneously transformative yet equally irrelevant.  Others believe it should be referred to as an era of persistent connectivity with suggestions of military cloudlets accompanying troops onto the battlefield.  Either way, similar to the industrial era solutions of electricity, piped gas, and water mains, this time will see digital being regarded as just another ubiquitous commodity, mundane and nothing much to marvel.  It is also a time inhabited by digital natives, digital nomads, and machines where digital is just a bland homogeneous background commodity, noticed only by its absence.  Similar to our understanding of electricity, gas, and water supply, we won’t marvel at this new ubiquitous commodity; it too just exists, noticed only by its absence.

British Challenger 2 MBT on Exercise Saif Sareea 3 in Oman, 2 OCT 18 / Source: British Ministry of Defence image

Consensus on the definition of hyper-war has also yet to be found but it is coming; a hyper-scale, hyper-connected and hyper-speed global competition between these digital natives, digital nomads and these digital machines making the concept of a traditional military platform-based contest largely irrelevant.  By assuming this dystopia as the baseline, it is then imperative we quickly move these sunset legacy platforms into history.  In doing so, it allows us to open space to pivot our thinking up into the contemporary capability layer, not marvelling at digital per se, but focusing on how these new capabilities have already changed the inter-state, intra-state, and sub-threshold battlefields (for both us and our adversaries).  We can now begin to ask far more interesting questions — Is the World Ready for this war?  How would we fight/compete in this era? With who? And how will we C2 all of it to ‘win’ this post-digital hyper-war?

The challenges of the post-digital hyper-war

We are not alone in this, the post-digital phenomenon is dominating all world societies, their institutions, and peoples — irrelevant of their socio-economic status.  The implications for states, government, and the C2 of future warfare are chilling.  How will a weakened state, pseudo-state, or next wave of dispersed virtual youth tribe fight, compete, or exert influence during this new age of conflict?  The nation-state faces a new acrimonious strategic competition using new forms of non-state violence, a war between philosophies, ideas, technologies, and economics — increasingly unlikely to be a physical kinetic conflict.  The traditional hard power capabilities of industrial age kinetic power militaries are no longer relevant in this post-digital battlefield, replaced by opportunities for more subtle, intellectual and nuanced information, cyber, and cognitive influencing ‘soft power‘ capabilities (see Figure 1, below).

Figure 1. Opportunities for a reimagined military between War & Peace (Author)
Britain’s Carrier Renaissance:  HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth pictured at sea together for the first time, 19 MAY 21 /  Source:  Royal Navy / Ministry of Defence; Photo by Petty Officer Photographer Jay Allen

Some lament and fight the sunset of these legacy ‘hard power’ capabilities, but shrewd futurists see a whole host of new sunrise opportunities in the utility and application of a post-digital reimagined military, a completely redefined military equipped with a whole host of new capabilities to fight this post-digital strategic competition.  In defining the next war in this context, the challenge becomes less about grafting advanced technical appendages onto lumbering iron targets but more the holistic transformation of our industrial-age physical military into a virtual, multi-dimensional, globally integrated influencing arm of the state.  This new, reimagined military will then need to be equally as nimble, practised, and competent at exerting state influence in the information, cyber and cognitive dimensions as it currently is in the physical dimension.

Future Threats:   Legacy institutions, ready to fight the last war?

This conundrum is not unique, it is being faced by all the world’s industrial age militaries and each is grappling with relentless upgrading of legacy platforms with iterative employment concepts every few years, e.g., JADC2, chasing the roller-coaster of seductive novel digital micro-modernisations to achieve fleeting information advantage.  Large standing militaries worldwide are firmly anchored in centuries of history, rules, processes and industrial-age anachronisms, but as observed by Gen Mark Welsh, CSAF, holding on to the things that made us great in the past is not the way to make us great in the future.”  

The size of our legacy military capabilities correlates to the diminishing armed conflict ‘market’ largely being replaced by new influencing activities (see Figure 2, below), with these new capabilities being provided by other ministries, corporations, and media.   Traditional Industrial era militaries are increasingly lagging behind in the transformed market for state influence, their adoption to this new reality has just been too slow; most have now missed the opportunities presented during this era and are struggling for relevance.  The necessity is now to rapidly begin thinking more radically, bolder, and faster or they will also miss the post-digital era.

Figure 2. Changing Shape of Inter-State Competition (Author)

Recommendations

As digital increasingly pervades, metastasises and saturates our battlespaces (similar to civil society), processing data up the cognitive hierarchy into intelligence, then into understanding and options will require decisions to be now taken at unimaginable speeds (see Figure 3, below).  Into that complexity is added transmission latency, data overload, and cyber security as the new battlefield constraints.  The maintenance of relevancy is the commander’s new intent and being able to communicate our ideas, messages, and effects before others do will be the new mission.

We need to pause, think, and envision this hyper-war. We can assume and expect that it is going to be technically complex, involve massive amounts of data with new hyper-connectivity, multi-channel, and multi-media transmission challenges with constant flux being the default.  The human Multi-Domain Command and Control (MDC2) decider will soon be redundant, replaced and upgraded by a new AI machineIt is just impossible for a human to comprehend and process the fire-hose of data traffic in this war of Information Advantage, Decision Superiority, and Cognitive Dominance at the quantum pace needed to succeed in these engagements.

Figure 3. Conceptual model of the post-digital military decision pyramid (British Army)

Is the World Ready?

Yes, we are ready.  But we need to stop fretting about our ability to win information advantage in the information age — it is too low down the value chain and that time has passed.  We are actually well ahead of our competition in the post-digital age:  The early use of AI enabled decision support, machine learning, and our #1 top-secret weapon — our young Soldiers and officers — mean that a lot of the basics are already in place.

But some resistors are holding back the change:

1. Our Thinking:  Our reluctance to let go of old, outdated industrial-age doctrine, TTPs, thinking, and our sentiment for legacy sunset platforms is stymieing progress, sapping our energy, and slowing us down. I’m part of the problem — I thought we could architect the Information Age war, but I’m now worried if this is also too late or dated guidance.

2. Our Leadership:  We need to decide who is going to lead this hyper-war. Lt Gen Michael S. Groen, Director, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) says “How we want to fight in the future is a question for warfighters… not IT people” and in a future IT-enabled traditional physical, industrial-age battle, he is probably correct.  In a post-digital hyper-war where intellect, media-savvy, and digital competence will deliver decision superiority and cognitive dominance, then leadership traits might favour those with more intellectual nuanced demeanours.

3. Our Harnessing of TalentInverting the pyramid and admitting we don’t know, and trusting our young Soldiers and officers to guide us in enabling it is going to be culturally difficult.  Fusing people and technology into a bionic organisation is what we need to give us the edge.  Thus, we need to hire intellectual over-achievers, dynamic young ranks and leaders based on their intellectual abilities, ambition and drive.  If we want elite digital warriors of the future, then we need to hire the right raw material, provide an employment package, work environment, and suitable intellectual challenging incubator to win the first engagement in this war – the battle for talent.

Yes, we are ready, but we need to check our fear of this future digital unknown ground.  Then be bold, disruptive, and confident in our unwavering belief that this is the right direction (even if we are not totally certain of the destination). We need to immerse into, own, shape, and dominate this post-digital battlespace, then inspire smart Soldiers/officers to find/apply/deploy the appropriate technology tools to dominate in the forthcoming hyper-war.   In doing so now, we give our newly reimaged military far more than an information advantage (that needs to be a given); we provide them with decision superiority and cognitive dominance over the brains of the protagonists in the battlespace of the future.

If you enjoyed this post, check out the following related content:

Sub-threshold Maneuver and the Flanking of U.S. National Security, by Dr. Russell Glenn

“Once More unto The Breach Dear Friends”: From English Longbows to Azerbaijani Drones, Army Modernization STILL Means More than Materiel and China and Russia: Achieving Decision Dominance and Information Advantage by Ian Sullivan

The Case for Restructuring the Department of Defense to Fight in the 21st Century, by LTC Christopher Heatherly

The Future of War is Cyber! by CPT Casey Igo and CPT Christian Turley

The Convergence: The Future of Ground Warfare with COL Scott Shaw and associated podcast

Hybrid Threats and Liminal Warfare and associated podcast, with proclaimed Mad Scientist Dr. David Kilcullen

Global Entanglement and Multi-Reality Warfare and associated podcast, with COL Stefan Banach (USA-Ret.)

Integrating Artificial Intelligence into Military Operations, by Dr. James Mancillas

The Future of Talent and Soldiers and associated podcast

In the Cognitive War – The Weapon is You! by Dr. Zac Rogers

Weaponized Information: What We’ve Learned So Far…, Insights from the Mad Scientist Weaponized Information Series of Virtual Events, and all of this series’ associated content and videos 

>>> REMINDER:  Army Mad Scientist Fall / Winter Writing Contest: Crowdsourcing is an effective tool for harvesting ideas, thoughts, and concepts from a wide variety of interested individuals, helping to diversify thought and challenge conventional assumptions. Army Mad Scientist seeks to crowdsource the intellect of the Nation (You!) with our Fall / Winter Writing Contest’s two themes — Back to the Future and Divergence – check out the associated writing prompts in the contest flyer and announcement, then get busy crafting your submissions — entries will be accepted in two formats:

Written essay (no more than 1500 words, please!)

Tweet @ArmyMadSci, using either #MadSciBacktotheFuture or #MadSciDivergence

We will pick a winner from each of these two formats!

Contest Winners will be proclaimed official Mad Scientists and be featured in the Mad Scientist Laboratory.  Semi-finalists of merit will also be published!

DEADLINE: All entries are due NLT 11:59 pm Eastern on January 10, 2022!

Any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us — send us an eMail at: madscitradoc@gmail.com

Capt Martin Crilly is a British Army Reserve officer with 39 (Skinners) Signal Regiment in Bristol, England.  His day job is as the Chief Architect & Engineering Authority for a large Defence Prime.   His background is in contemporary ICT architecture, technology strategy, digital leadership with previous J2/J6 roles in BFC, ISS Ops Plans, GOSCC, DE&S Maritime and others.  He has Masters in business, org design and is currently completing a Doctorate in InfoOps.  Check out other similar articles by Capt Crilly in the UK’s Wavell Room.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Army Futures Command (AFC), or U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

 

372. How China Fights

[Editor’s Note:  Army Mad Scientist is pleased to present our latest episode of The Convergence podcast, with the next installment of our series on How They Fight.  This episode features Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from the TRADOC G-2, Blue Path Labs, Center for New American Security (CNAS), CNA, and VAST-OSINT discussing How China Fights, exploring how our pacing threat conducts intelligentized warfare, maneuver, fires, information operations, cyber, and more!  China’s global ambitions and increasing assertiveness, combined with its warfighting modernization efforts spanning materiel, organization, training, and personnel capabilities will enable them to contest us across all domains in Competition, Crisis, and Conflict.  Read on (and listen!) to learn how our most technologically sophisticated adversary fights!]

[If the podcast dashboard is not rendering correctly for you, please click here to listen to the podcast.]

Over the past two decades, China has transformed its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) through a holistic approach — modernizing its weaponry, force structure, and approaches to warfare, to include operations in the cyber and space domains, while improving its professional military education. Although Russia remains a near-peer threat, China has ascended to become the United States’ lone pacing threat. The PLA’s momentous progress in warfighting capabilities and concepts, coupled with its whole-of-nation approach to competition, crisis, and conflict, enables it to challenge the United States across all domains and the Diplomatic, Information, Military, and Economic spheres.

Army Mad Scientist interviewed the seven world-class SMEs regarding our near peer threat to learn How China Fights:

Ian Sullivan serves as the Senior Advisor for Analysis and ISR to the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2, at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC G2). He is responsible for the analysis that defines and the narrative that explains the Army’s Operational Environment, which supports integration across doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities, and policy.  Mr. Sullivan is a frequent and valued contributor to the Mad Scientist Laboratory, including the previous episode in this series, How Russia Fights.

Peter Wood is a program manager and defense analyst at Blue Path Labs, a strategic advisory firm. He previously edited China Brief, a publication of the Jamestown Foundation. He has an M.A. from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies (HNC) and a B.A. in Political Science from Texas Tech University. He is proficient in Chinese.

Elsa B. Kania  is an Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at CNAS. Her research focuses on Chinese military strategy, military innovation, and emerging technologies. Her book, Fighting to Innovate, should be forthcoming with the Naval Institute Press in 2022.  At CNAS, Ms. Kania has contributed to the Artificial Intelligence and Global Security Initiative and the “Securing Our 5G Future” program, while acting as a member of the Digital Freedom Forum and the research team for the Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and National Security.  Ms. Kania is a Ph.D. candidate in Harvard University’s Department of Government. She is also a graduate of Harvard College and has received a Master of Arts in Government from Harvard University. Ms. Kania was a Boren Scholar in Beijing, China, and she maintains professional proficiency in Mandarin Chinese. She is a proclaimed Mad Scientist and valued contributor to the Mad Scientist Laboratory.

Kevin Pollpeter is a research scientist in the CNA China Studies Division. He is an internationally recognized expert on China’s space program and is widely published on Chinese national security issues, focusing on Chinese military modernization, China’s defense industry, and Chinese views on information warfare. His publications include China Dream, Space Dream: China’s Progress in Space Technologies and Implications for the United States; Planning for Innovation: Understanding China’s Plans for Technological, Energy, Industrial, and Defense Development; and “Chinese Writings on Cyberwarfare and Coercion,” in China and Cybersecurity: Espionage, Strategy, and Politics in the Digital Domain. A Chinese linguist, he holds an M.A. in international policy studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at King’s College London.

Dr. Amanda Kerrigan is a Research Scientist in the China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Division at CNA, where her research has focused on Chinese developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and Chinese media responses to U.S. military operations and activities worldwide. Dr. Kerrigan holds a Ph.D. in China Studies from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, a Master’s degree in Chinese Politics and Diplomacy from Fudan University in Shanghai, and a Bachelor’s degree in Asian Studies from Georgetown University. She was a Fulbright Fellow in China from 2015-2016, studying protest and violence in China’s health care system. Fluent in Chinese, she spent four years living between mainland China and Taiwan. Her previous professional experiences include working in the China Practice at the Albright Stonebridge Group and with Johns Hopkins Medicine International.

Doowan Lee is CEO and co-founder of VAST-OSINT, an AI startup.  He builds data analytic tools to expose and analyze the provenance of disinformation and adversarial information operations by enriching and visualizing cyber data for content authentication.  He is also a senior advisor to the Institute for Security and Technology (IST) and adjunct professor of politics at the University of San Francisco.  He leverages emerging AI technologies to empower open society and support national security.   He specializes in disinformation analysis and great power competition in the Information Environment.  Before founding VAST-OSINT, he taught at the Naval Postgraduate School for more than eleven years as a faculty member and principal investigator. He was also featured in a previous podcast episode, Disinformation, Revisionism, and China.

Andrea Kendall-Taylor is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Transatlantic Security Program at CNAS. She works on national security challenges facing the United States and Europe, focusing on Russia, authoritarianism and threats to democracy, and the state of the Transatlantic alliance. Prior to joining CNAS, Ms. Kendall-Taylor served for eight years as a senior intelligence officer. From 2015 to 2018, she was Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in the ODNI.  Prior to joining the NIC, Ms. Kendall-Taylor was a senior analyst at the CIA where she worked on Russia and Eurasia, the political dynamics of autocracies, and democratic decline.  Ms. Kendall-Taylor is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.  Ms. Kendall-Taylor was also featured in the previous episode, How Russia Fights.

In our interview with the aforementioned SMEs, we explore How China Fights, to include intelligentized warfare, maneuver, fires, information operations, cyber, and more!  The following bullet points highlight key insights from our interview:

      • Beginning in 2004, China’s PLA undertook a major modernization effort to reinvent itself as a rival to the United States. It invested in extensive technology development, undertook major force restructuring, and created new, specialized units for advanced warfare. Though the PLA lacks combat experience, it has become progressively more assertive in competition.
      • China has completed extensive research and development in artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems. Specifically, China will use this technology to support drones across all military operations, including combat and logistical support. China is now the United States’ most technologically sophisticated adversary, though its concentration on this “science” of warfare may be at the expense of the “art” of battle, or the focus on training creative, resilient human forces.
      • China will also leverage its AI proficiency in “intelligent warfare,” integrating machines in military decision making. This strategy will shift warfare to the key cyber and space domains and increase its emphasis on obtaining high-quality military data.
      • PLA SSF shoulder patch

        In its modernization campaign, China created a Strategic Support Force  (SSF) for information warfare, space operations, and cyber activities. The consolidation of these capabilities demonstrates China’s perception that these will be the decisive domains in future warfare. Further, documentation demonstrates that China sees information operations as a regular, rather than irregular, warfare technique.

      • China Trifold (obverse) / Source: TRADOC G-2 — check it out here!

        China has also sought to fully integrate itself into the global economy and digital infrastructure through programs like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This effort increased the strength and resilience of its economy, portrayed China as a willing and capable development partner, and provided itself with increased access to operation spaces for future systems confrontations.

      • Chinese and Russian marines embrace in Zhanjiang, South China’s Guangdong province, during Exercise “Joint Sea 2016” / Source:  www.chinadaily.com.cn; Photo by Xinhua

        Though China’s relationship with Russia is limited and transactional, the rate of cooperation between the two nations has increased in recent years. They are increasingly aligned on policy goals such as countering U.S. influence and democracy promotion, and seek to combine Chinese capital with Russian talent to fully advance their respective international standings.


Stay tuned to the Mad Scientist Laboratory for our next episode of The Convergence podcast “Through Soldiers’ Eyes: The Future of Ground Combat,” featuring subject matter experts — military analysts, combat veterans, and combat reporters — discussing their experiences in modern warfare at the “bleeding edge” of battle, the future of conflict, and the requirements and challenges facing future ground warfighters.

Learn more about China as our Pacing Threat in the following TRADOC G-2 content:

ATP 7-100.3, Chinese Tactics; People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces Quick Reference Guide; China Trifold; the China products page; and information on PLA weapon systems accessed via the Worldwide Equipment Guide (WEG) on the OE Data Integration Network (ODIN).

… explore the following Mad Scientist Laboratory China content:

The Operational Environment (2021-2030): Great Power Competition, Crisis, and Conflict, along with its source document

China’s PLA Modernization through the DOTMLPF-P Lens, by Dr. Jacob Barton

“Intelligentization” and a Chinese Vision of Future War

Competition and Conflict in the Next Decade

Disrupting the “Chinese Dream” – Eight Insights on how to win the Competition with China

Competition in 2035: Anticipating Chinese Exploitation of Operational Environments

Disinformation, Revisionism, and China with Doowan Lee and associated podcast

China and Russia: Achieving Decision Dominance and Information Advantage, by Ian Sullivan

The PLA and UAVs – Automating the Battlefield and Enhancing Training

A Chinese Perspective on Future Urban Unmanned Operations

China: “New Concepts” in Unmanned Combat and Cyber and Electronic Warfare

The PLA: Close Combat in the Information Age and the “Blade of Victory”

… and check out the following additional content on China:

China’s Military Civil Fusion Strategy:  A View from Chinese Strategists, by Alex Stone and Peter Wood

People’s Liberation Army: Army Campaign Doctrine in Transition by Kevin McCauley

THE PLA BEYOND BORDERS Chinese Military Operations in Regional and Global Context, edited by Joel Wuthnow, Arthur S. Ding, Phillip C. Saunders, Andrew Scobell, and Andrew N.D. Yang

Deciphering the PLA’s New Joint Doctrine: A Conversation with Dr. David Finkelstein, a podcast by our colleagues at the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

>>> REMINDER:  Army Mad Scientist Fall / Winter Writing Contest: Crowdsourcing is an effective tool for harvesting ideas, thoughts, and concepts from a wide variety of interested individuals, helping to diversify thought and challenge conventional assumptions. Army Mad Scientist seeks to crowdsource the intellect of the Nation (You!) with our Fall / Winter Writing Contest’s two themes — Back to the Future and Divergence – check out the associated writing prompts in the contest flyer and announcement, then get busy crafting your submissions — entries will be accepted in two formats:

Written essay (no more than 1500 words, please!)

Tweet @ArmyMadSci, using either #MadSciBacktotheFuture or #MadSciDivergence

We will pick a winner from each of these two formats!

Contest Winners will be proclaimed official Mad Scientists and be featured in the Mad Scientist Laboratory.  Semi-finalists of merit will also be published!

DEADLINE: All entries are due NLT 11:59 pm Eastern on January 10, 2022!

Any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us — send us an eMail at: madscitradoc@gmail.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Army Futures Command (AFC), or Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

371. In the Crosshairs: U.S. Homeland Infrastructure Threats

[Editor’s Note:  With Congress’ passage and President Biden signing the bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act last month, Army Mad Scientist is training its sights on infrastructure vulnerabilities that could be targeted by our adversaries.   The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the proliferation of autonomy means a plethora of ever-smaller wireless internet and cellular antennae, paired with smaller and more prolific sensors, are embedded across public and industrial infrastructure.  This web of networked sensors has, per Chris O’Connor in his superlative post Warfare in the Parallel Cambrian Age, created “an interface between the physical and cyber domains of warfare” that is ripe for exploitation. Our adversaries now present a hemispheric threat, capable of exploiting this broad attack surface across the U.S. homeland, with potentially catastrophic kinetic effects, all the while maintaining plausible deniability.  Read on to learn more about this threat!]

Russia and China present a hemispheric threat to the U.S., having invested heavily in offensive cyber capabilities to gain an outsized advantage against U.S. military, civil, and economic targets in the homeland with limited attribution.

SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are computer-based networked systems that gather and analyze real-time data to monitor and control infrastructure-related critical and time-sensitive processes and events. U.S. SCADA systems — controlling electrical grids, water and sewage supply and treatment facilities, mass transit and rail, traffic controls, telecom and IT networks and systems, and more — lack appropriate cybersecurity protocols and defense capabilities to fend off threats from extraction tools, arbitrary code attacks (RCE), and denial of service (DoS) attacks.

As U.S. cities (and installations) become increasingly “smart” and hyper connected, their threat surface grows exponentially. Power grids, pipelines, water distribution systems, and traffic control systems that are operated and monitored by advanced, automated systems (e.g., NOLAlytics in New Orleans, Metro21 Project in Pittsburgh) require increased connectivity and data storage capacity and capabilities – often relying on cloud services – which provides an opening for malignant cyber actors (Russia and China).

Hospitals and medical centers are especially vulnerable to ransomware and cyber-attacks that compromise sensitive patient data, critical life support systems, and operating capabilities.

Russia has been identified by the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as the most prominent global malicious state cyber actor. Russia’s 2017 NotPetya cyber-attack on Ukraine spilled beyond its target to inflict massive economic damage worldwide, crippling international shipping giant Maersk and causing an estimated $10 billion in economic damage. Russia had launched similar attacks previously — against Estonia in 2007 and Ukraine in 2015.

Russia also sanctions, or at least condones, cyber-attacks and ransomware operations by cybercrime and hacking groups that originate in the Russian Federation. NOBELIUM, a state-connected hacking group, responsible for the massive SolarWinds hack, is assessed to be conducting a broad, large-scale attack campaign against global supply chains, IT networks, and DoD systems. While Russia does not appear to have sponsored the cybercrime group DarkSide’s ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline, it makes no effort to prevent or deter the operations of such groups in its territory.

While China has been far less brazen and confrontational in its cyber approach than Russia, the PRC poses a significant and complex long-term cyber threat to the U.S. and its infrastructure. Beijing has largely used its cyber prowess and capabilities for espionage and technology theft.

China continues to build up a substantial cyber-attack capability with a whole-of-nation approach that includes hacking and attack groups across the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), civilian government, and even “private” student groups. China is mapping and targeting networks across a variety of U.S. industries and organizations – healthcare, financial services, defense industrial base, energy sector, government facilities, chemical plants, critical manufacturing, communications, international trade, education, legal, and even video gaming – in preparation for a possible future “zero-day” attack.

According to an assessment from the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council, current U.S. government and military cyber defense capabilities are disconnected and scattered across a wide swath of agencies, departments, and sub-units in a complicated labyrinth that is extremely challenging to coordinate and navigate.

 

Kinetic threats to infrastructure are still extremely concerning, not only from state actors, but from non-state actors and proxy forces, as evidenced by Houthi drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in March 2021 and Abha airport in August and September 2021.

Attacks on or sabotage of supply chains can have adverse effects on the homeland in a similar way to a ransomware attack on hospital can (time = death). China and Russia have ample opportunity to either disrupt the supply chain through cyber-attacks or, more covertly, poison the supply chain with routing manipulation or compromised goods that will either fail or act as sensors.

Our adversaries can target the Nation at the granular level (citizens and Soldiers alike) via the ubiquity of social media and much improved deepfake (voice and video) AI technology, exploiting our inherent biases and eroding our trust in national institutions, elected leaders, commanders, and comrades-in-arms. This is an easily democratized threat vector — anyone (great and lesser powers, non-state actors, multinational corporations, and super-empowered individuals) can develop and employ them. Due to our anchoring and confirmation biases, these technologies are particularly effective components of much larger Information Operations.

For much of its history, the U.S. homeland has been blessed by the protective spans of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with our key infrastructure largely out of reach from our adversaries.  No longer!  The Internet of Everything with ever expanding hyper-connectivity continues to broaden our nation’s attack surface, providing a tempting “Achilles heel” for all potential adversaries seeking to “punch above their weight.”  Investing in infrastructure hardening, building national cyber resiliency, and clearly delineating the consequences for attacks on U.S. homeland infrastructure are warranted courses of action.

If you enjoyed this post, check out the following related content:

The Future of War is Cyber! by CPT Casey Igo and CPT Christian Turley; Blurring Lines Between Competition and Conflict; Sub-threshold Maneuver and the Flanking of U.S. National Security, by Dr. Russell GlennThe Convergence: Hybrid Threats and Liminal Warfare with Dr. David Kilcullen; and the associated podcast

Warfare in the Parallel Cambrian Age, by Chris O’Connor; Military Implications of Smart Cities, by Alexander Braszko, Jr.; Army Installations: A Whole Flock of Pink Flamingos, by proclaimed Mad Scientist Richard G. Kidd IV, et al.; and Integrated Sensors: The Critical Element in Future Complex Environment Warfare, by Dr. Richard Nabors

Russia: Our Current Pacing Threat, The Bear is Still There: Four Insights on Competition with RussiaHow Russia Fights, and the associated podcast; Competition and Conflict in the Next Decade and China: “New Concepts” in Unmanned Combat and Cyber and Electronic Warfare; and China and Russia: Achieving Decision Dominance and Information Advantage, by Ian Sullivan

Weaponized Information: What We’ve Learned So Far…, Insights from the Mad Scientist Weaponized Information Series of Virtual Events, this series’ associated content and videosWeaponized Information: One Possible Vignette, and Three Best Information Warfare Vignettes

How Big of a Deal are Drone Swarms? and A New Age of Terror: New Mass Casualty Terrorism Threats by proclaimed Mad Scientist Zachary Kallenborn

A House Divided: Microtargeting and the next Great American Threat, by 1LT Carlin Keally; The Exploitation of our Biases through Improved Technology, by proclaimed Mad Scientist Raechel Melling; and The Erosion of National Will – Implications for the Future Strategist, by Dr. Nick Marsella

>>> REMINDER:  Army Mad Scientist Fall / Winter Writing Contest: Crowdsourcing is an effective tool for harvesting ideas, thoughts, and concepts from a wide variety of interested individuals, helping to diversify thought and challenge conventional assumptions. Army Mad Scientist seeks to crowdsource the intellect of the Nation (You!) with our Fall / Winter Writing Contest’s two themes — Back to the Future and Divergence – check out the associated writing prompts in the contest flyer and announcement, then get busy crafting your submissions — entries will be accepted in two formats:

Written essay (no more than 1500 words, please!)

Tweet @ArmyMadSci, using either #MadSciBacktotheFuture or #MadSciDivergence

We will pick a winner from each of these two formats!

Contest Winners will be proclaimed official Mad Scientists and be featured in the Mad Scientist Laboratory.  Semi-finalists of merit will also be published!

DEADLINE: All entries are due NLT 11:59 pm Eastern on January 10, 2022!

Any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us — send us an eMail at: madscitradoc@gmail.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense, the Joint Staff, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of the Army, Army Futures Command (AFC), or U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC).

370. Prioritizing People First!

[Editor’s Note: Army Mad Scientist is pleased to support the Army and its Army People Synchronization Conference in January 2022.  To that end, we’re announcing the associated writing contest — not to be confused with our on-going Army Mad Scientist Fall / Winter Writing Contest — in support of this critical endeavor prioritizing the Army Team (Soldiers, Department of the Army Civilians, their dependents, and Soldiers for Life).  Check out the details below — we will feature the winning submission and author in a future Mad Scientist Laboratory blog post.  Additionally, we will compile it, along with other submissions of merit, and provide copies to Senior Army Leadership attending the Army People Synchronization Conference.  So get cracking on your submissions!]

The Chief of Staff for the Army placed “People First” among the Army’s priorities.

By prioritizing people first, the Army is signaling that investing resources in our people initiatives is the most effective way to accomplish our constant mission – to deploy, fight, and win our nation’s wars by providing ready, prompt, and sustained land dominance by Army forces across the full spectrum of conflict as part of the Joint Force.

Army “personnel” are means to an end:  mission accomplishment. “Individuals required in either a military or civilian capacity to accomplish the assigned mission.” (JP 1-0).  Army “People” initiatives recognize this relationship, but it may also include a reframing, which considers our human element as an end unto itself.

If the Army’s human dimension meets the mission but does not also meet the needs of people, then the Army is not successful. This requires the broader People approach integrating holistic health and fitness, cohesive teams, removing unnecessary systematic barriers to individual success, and providing resources for Soldiers to meet their maximum potential. In doing so, we live up to our Army’s and Nation’s values, while ensuring mission success.

Identifying solutions to existing individual, team, and social challenges while also maximizing performance is difficult today. The battle between human nature and desired human behavior requires constant engagement and anticipation of emergent threats and opportunities. As the Army transitions to the needs of MDO:

      • What does it mean to put People first in the 2035 time frame? How do advances in technology and society provide more opportunities and challenges?
      • What are the social and political implications of emerging technologies?
      • With the emergence of new cyber and psychological means, are civilians and families larger targets that the Army must protect?
      • What are the implications on civil-military relations based on the emergence of new technologies?

The Army wants to crowdsource your thoughts on one or more of these aforementioned writing prompts — craft a 500 word composition over the Holiday Season and submit it via email with “APSC” in the subject line NLT 1700 EDT on Monday, 03 January 22, to:  madscitradoc@gmail.com 

Army Mad Scientist will feature the winning submission and author in a future Mad Scientist Laboratory blog post.  Additionally, we will compile it, along with other submissions of merit, and provide copies to Senior Army Leadership attending the Army People Synchronization Conference in January 2022!