Organising Complexity: Modes Of Behaviour In A Networked Battlespace

This paper examines two powerful motivators in US defence policy: the pursuit of network-centric warfare and the imperatives of counterinsurgency. It explores the often noted points of incompatibility between the two, before arguing that a more productive way of understanding their interaction is to examine the ways in which the two are being hybridised in practice in the testing ground of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The paper draws on fieldwork with the US Army's 1st Cavalry Division that explores their use of a particular command and control technology, Command Post of the Future, during their first rotation in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004.