Roger A Beaumont

Author managed to put lots of food for thought in this very short book (less than hundred pages).

Topic is command and control - in broader sense attempts towards state centralization of certain parts of human behavior (most specifically surveillance and actions based off it) and in narrower terms command and control (CC, but in general any of or all of the standard abbreviations: C2/C3/C3I) when applied to the military matters.

In a very clear and concise way author presents development of CC from the 19th century onward, through American Civil War, wars of Prussia, WW1, WW2 and in modern days up to 1982 Israeli attack on Lebanon.

CC evolved in all these situations through ad hoc and systematically introduced protocols and technologies - be it use of wireless, encryption or Phantom units tasked with speeding up the information propagation during the height of battle. This caused CC to become very complex and in some parts of it very dependent on highly specialized operators.

After WW2 CC evolved as a conglomeration of various systems, requiring various specialties to proper handle ti. In parallel CC had to cope with ever shrinking time for human decision - be it due to the severity of activity (imminent nuclear attack or air defense operation) or adequate response to changes at the front. In all these situations human factor plays the role and it is visible that lack of trust in fully automated systems was very much alive at the time as it is today (with what I must assume is ever going war with military industry that tries to sell such autonomous systems, hopefully reason will prevail). Issues that existed at the time when book was written exist today - when complexity of CC goes over the human control threshold who is then waging war and does the hyper-reaction to the external stimuli (that can be any piece of information but not necessarily one that is true or one that gives full picture of developments) justifies the way CC responds to it - in worst case by thermonuclear obliteration of the vast areas of the Earth. What if CC is destroyed fully or partially, how is command and control supposed to function from that point on - who has right to execute the mortal blow or decide everything can go off i puff of smoke?

This was also first time I came across the term MUD (Mutual Unacceptable Damage). MUD was step away from the MAD approach (mutually assured destruction). It was step towards the situation where nuclear war would start in several escalations steps where each participant would aim missiles towards specific targets thus giving the other side means to escalate, de-escalate or even surrender. Basically initial exchange would potentially last for weeks if not months and after that war would definitely continue as a conventional one (in Mad Max like environment). Basically move towards MUD was move towards sustainable nuclear war - thousands would die, sure, but for state starting it up if escalation is done step by step, and playing on human psychology, first strike might actually give the edge over the opponent. Unlike MAD, MUD in author's opinion (which I share) walks the thin red line that assumes the other party is interested in video-game-like conflict of health damage going below certain level (not necessarily all the way to zero for everyone, basically aiming at decapitation) but not accounting the fatalism and in general bad-loser-tantrum that can instigate world wide conflagration because there is nothing left to lose. Basically it shows that MAD approach was playing the role up to mid 1970's and then all sides started looking at possible alternatives where they will be left with less radioactive property than opposition (victory, yay! terrifying....)

This shed some light on the comments when it comes to deploying western missiles so close between the West and East borders (and even on the very border). I think (pro-Western Eastern) Europe is, from the Western side, looked as acceptable barren land because odds are pretty good if strike is done from that territory. As I said ..... Terrifying.

Author gives very good examples of high technology complexity, human factor in terms of mental fatigue and not just in military personnel but also political/government, how screening and check on physical and mental health are of highest importance when selecting people to these positions (of course we are talking about military personnel primarily although I would expect some screening for politicians although considering today's politicians hehehehehe .... no, when I think about it I don't think they have any screenings, especially not in mental capacities) and different approaches between [at the time] US/NATO and USSR/Warsaw Pact when it comes to CC.

Author gives also some insights on mass media and on social media (which of course is not named as such because it did not exist at the time) and dangers when applying CC in civilian society especially when allowed to become so complex that nobody can grasp how it works - ever required need for human factor - but becomes meddling, authoritarian element in everyday life (sounds familiar, doesn't it).

Final chapter is role of CC in case of space warfare, how distance and delays in communication will make CC even more dependent on technical progress and the role of human-machine interface to ensure CC never gets out of the control and starts creating schemes of its own without much thought on humans themselves (btw empathy is something CC does not have much of even today, especially when restricted time response is in question).

Excellent book, highly recommended.… (mere)