Information Superiority: Seeking Command of the Cyber-Sea

This thesis examines the initial effort to formulate principles for information-based operations. Although it is impossible to explore each aspect of this transformation, it is worthwhile to examine current efforts by the US military to develop a doctrinal foundation for Information Operations 10. It explores the ongoing struggle to capture within the confines of Joint military doctrine those critical features of this new age driven by information. The world community is increasingly dependent on reliable information traffic. Information has become a commodity and source of power unto itself. Alvin Toffler describes this period as the transformation of societies from second-wave industrialmechanical to third-wave information-based means. The growing dependence of the US military on these infrastructures reveals potentially vulnerable elements of the National Information Infrastructure NII. This monograph examines the need for a comprehensive 10 doctrine. It yields a critical analysis of existing doctrine, illuminates several flaws within the current construct, and concludes with a suggested model for 10 development. Doctrinal models are developed for the Army, Air Force, and Navy respectively. These models explain those aspects which most essentially describe the doctrinal culture of each service component. These factors include service organization employment of forces both in peace and during crisis and methods of control. In turn, each component model is compared to the revised 10 model.