On Tuesday 6 February 2007, Dr Paul T. Mitchell (Associate Professor, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University) addressed Members of the Institute on “Network Centric Warfare: Coalition operations in the age of US military primacy”. Organised by IISS-Asia, the event took place at Prestige Room, 9 Raffles Place, Level 57 Republic Plaza.
Synopsis:
Since its emergence in 1988, the concept of Network Centric Warfare (NCW) has become a central driver behind America’s military ‘transformation’ and seems to offer the possibility of true integration between multinational military formations. Even though NCW, or variations on its themes, has been adopted by many armed services, it is a concept in operational and doctrinal development. It is shaping not only how militaries operate, but, just as importantly, what they are operating with, and potentially altering the strategic landscape. The seminar examines how the current military dominance of the US over every other state means that only it has the capacity to sustain military activity on a global scale and that other states participating in US-led coalitions must be prepared to work in an ‘interoperable’ fashion. It explores the application of computer networks to military operations in conjunction with the need to secure a network’s information and to assure that it accurately represents situational reality. Drawing on an examination of how networks affected naval operations in the Persian Gulf during 2002 and 2003 as conducted by America’s Australian and Canadian coalition partners, the seminar warns that in seeking allies with the requisite technological capabilities, but also those that it can trust with its information resources, the US may be heading into a very secure digital corner.
Dr Paul T. Mitchell is an Associate Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, where he was Director of Academics between 2000 and 2004. His research interests are in US military policy and operations, especially in the area of transformation and emerging operational concepts. In 2003 he was awarded the United States Naval Institute’s Literacy Award for the best article on surface naval warfare for ‘Network Centric Warfare and Small Navies, is there a role?’ published in Naval War College Review.He has published in Journal of Strategic Studies, Armed Forces and Society, US Naval Institute Proceedings, US Naval War College Review and the Canadian Military Journal. In 1997 he co-edited Multinational Naval Cooperation and Foreign Policy in the 21st Century (Ashgate). He has taught at Queen’s University, Ontario, Dalhousie University, the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, Canada’s Royal Military College and the SAFTI Military Institute, Singapore. He has a PhD from Queen’s University in political studies and amasters from King’s College London in war studies.
