National Security Policy Survey of the Literature INFORMATION

1
National Security Policy Survey of the
LiteratureINFORMATION

• Robert David Steele
• OSS CEO
• bear_at_oss.net
• Updated 19 August 2002

2
Plan of the Brief

• You have 150 books in the lecture handout.
• Will only cover 50 or so of them now.
• Complete text reviews for over 350 books are at
  OSS.Net, at Amazon, and in the red and green books

• Information
• Intelligence
• Emerging Threats
• Strategy Structure
• Blowback, Dissent International Relations
• US Politics, Leadership the Future of Life

3
Relevant Readings on Information
4
Bloom on Biology of Intelligence

• When conformity enforcers silence diversity
  generators the group is committing mass suicide
• Language and culture kill half our brain cells
• Internal processing more vital than external
  collection

5
H. G. Wells on World Brain

• World Brain is alive and using the Internet
• Public intelligence and public education will
  change the way we make policy, conduct operations
• Biggest change is going to social--who we talk to
  and why (more diversity).

6
Swegen on Global Mind

• DNA carries information in the 2033 nucleotides
  that comprise molecule
• Mind matter, energy ecology all come together
  to form a global mind that reaches outward from
  Earth.

7
Levy on Collective Intelligence

• National prosperity depends on ability to
  navigate knowledge space
• Power is pathological and can only be balanced
  and overcome by collective intelligence.
• Cyberspace needs rules or freedom will be lost
  there.

8
Harman on Global MindChange

• Scientific objectivity and primacy of economic
  institutions have corrupted our thinking and set
  stage for massive upheavals around the world.
• Value-based decision-making is vital to the
  future of our world.

9
Saul on Pathology of Reason

• Secrecy is pathological, undermines public
  confidence
• Intelligence is about disseminated knowledge, not
  about secrets
• Western thinking has been corrupted by its focus
  on industrial processes in isolation from culture.

10
Shattuck on Forbidden Knowledge

• Knowing too much too fast can be dangerous
• There are things we should not know or be exposed
  to
• Neither of these premises supports secrecy
• Secrecy undermines the ability of people to
  self-govern and self-defend

11
Wilson on Unity of Knowledge

• All knowledge is related and interactive--science
  without the humanities is mis-guided dangerous
  science
• Knowledge and education must be universally
  distributed within the public, not held back by
  selected policymakers

12
McKibben on Missing Information

• Information is not a substitute for being there
• Television killed history--media only
  acknowledges reality for which film exists (last
  40 years vice 4000)
• One day of human observation is vastly more
  valuable than one day of electronic noise.

13
McKenna on Real-Time

• Forget about trying to predict or impose a future
• Instead, cast a very wide net of intimate probes
  for early warning of what your clients need
• Then be able to collect, process, and deliver in
  real-time, over and over again

14
Evans Wurster on New Values

• Knowing who knows and knowing how to find what
  you need to know will be more important than
  knowing anything specific
• Must deconstruct organizations away from
  production orientation and toward customer
  orientation

15
Davenport Beck on Attention

• 1) Global Coverage for AWARENESS
• 2) Surge target-local focus for ATTENTION
• 3) Domestic political focus for ACTION
• 10 seconds for scanning, 3 minutes for attention
  new standard for products

16
Kelly on the Hive Mind

• Biological systems are much more competent than
  automated systems when it comes to handling
  complexity and generating options
• We are decades behind in understanding how to
  make our machines smart

17
Strassmann on Productivity

• Information productivity can be measured
• Most information technology initiatives provide a
  negative return on investment
• Managers have abdicated their responsibilities
  and allowed technicians to create out of
  control systems

18
Stoll on Snake Oil

• Internet is imposing a cultural change, impacting
  on human relations
• Internet brings with us considerable costs and
  undocumented dangers

19
Dertouzos on Human Needs

• Software has faults by default, is not
  human-centered
• Should get to one device and on-the-fly changes
  in function
• Microsoft and other legacy winners are the
  obstacle to reform

20
Denning on Storytelling

• Technical data inadequate
• Complex visions best illustrated by stories
• Allows audience to fill in the gaps and become
  stakeholders
• World Bank earns more by sharing knowledge than
  it does by lending money

21
Toffler on PowerShift

• Information is power
• New C4I is distributed, not owned by State
• Bureaucracy is dead
• Non-state actors have more information, more
  power, than state--and they are faster at using
  it