Visualizing Social Networks to Inform Tactical Engagement Strategies that will Influence the Human Domain
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Authors
MacCalman, Molly
MacCalman, Alexander
Wilson, Greg
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Date of Issue
2013-08
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Abstract
The Special Operations Command, Marine Corps, and Army recently formed the Strategic Landpower Task Force to study
the confluence of the land, cyber, and human domains. To support the Task Force’s research, this paper demonstrates the
utility of visualizing social networks in order to inform a unit’s population tactical engagement strategy. We illustrate how
collecting, structuring and visualizing socio-cultural data can assist units to rapidly communicate human dynamics,
visualize community and group affiliations, prepare for key leader engagements, highlight potential powerbrokers, and
identify information gaps about the human terrain. We provide real world examples from a recent deployment to
Kandahar, Afghanistan. These examples reveal how social network and link analysis can assist units to understand and
influence the human domain at the tactical level.
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Article
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Operations Research
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Citation
Small Wars Journal, August 15, 2013
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.