Cultural intelligence support for military operations
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY
It has long been recognized that military success relies on knowledge of the enemy. In the context of standard warfare, adequate knowledge of the enemy may be gained by analyzing observable, measurable data. In the context of modern counterinsurgency operations and the global war on terror, the task of predicting the behavior of the enemy is vastly more complex and difficult. Without an understanding of the ways individuals in the host nation interpret and react to events, no amount of objective information can provide the insight required to accurately predict behavior. US military doctrine has begun to recognize the importance of the many ways that local culture can affect operation success. Increasingly military decision makers use cultural information in the service of operation planning, and troops are provided with pre-deployment cultural training. However, no amount of training can cover the breadth and depth of potentially useful cultural information, and no amount of careful planning can avoid the need to adapt as situations develop. Therefore, a critical challenge is to provide useful tools to US personnel in their efforts to collect, analyze, and utilize cultural information. Essential functions for cultural support tools include the following: (1) to narrow down a broad range of available data and focus the user's attention on context-relevant information, (2) to present cultural information in an easily understood form, (3) to prompt the user to seek relevant information in the environment, (4) to synthesize information, and (5) to predict outcomes based on possible courses of operation. In this paper, we begin by reviewing the ways in which military operations can benefit from cultural intelligence. We then discuss frameworks for analyzing cultural information in the context of a military operation. We conclude with a demonstration of our current efforts to develop a tool that meets the aforementioned functional challenges.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1003807
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-10-02179; LA-UR-10-2179
- Resource Relation:
- Journal Volume: 20105244; Conference: Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics Conference ; July 17, 2010 ; Miami, FL
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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