Understanding and Defeating a Complex Adaptive ... - Australian Army
Understanding and Defeating a Complex Adaptive ... - Australian Army
Understanding and Defeating a Complex Adaptive ... - Australian Army
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Decision-Making • Lieutenant Colonel Ian Langford<br />
<strong>Complex</strong>ity<br />
1<br />
Linear<br />
Entropy<br />
Chaotic<br />
1<br />
Figure 3. Most complex adaptive systems<br />
<strong>Complex</strong>ity<br />
1<br />
0 Entropy<br />
1<br />
Figure 4. Driving a system into chaos<br />
of work lost in a system due to destructive forces such as friction or interference.<br />
Knowledge of the type of friction <strong>and</strong> interference is the focal point of the application<br />
of a successful counter-network targeting strategy. It is designed ultimately to<br />
induce such entrophy into the network that it ceases to properly function <strong>and</strong> is<br />
rendered a completely chaotic system, having lost all control. This sets in chain the<br />
seeds of the network’s own self-destruction. Irregular tactics such as counterinsurgency<br />
operations, psychological operations <strong>and</strong> targeted assistance are especially<br />
effective at inducing entrophy into a system.<br />
In the case of the Taliban/Mexican cartel network, an effective application of a<br />
counter-network attack can be derived by underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>and</strong> reviewing the principles<br />
<strong>and</strong> traits that form the network, <strong>and</strong> then by applying a targeting methodology<br />
that seeks to underst<strong>and</strong> complexity <strong>and</strong> induce entropy. In this instance the attack<br />
<strong>and</strong> defeat mechanism would:<br />
page 116 • Volume IX, Number 3 • <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Army</strong> Journal