Exploring the importance of information superiority to the decision maker

Abstract

The importance of information superiority has been emphasized as a critical capability that future joint forces must be able to achieve. No longer simply a future concept, it is being officially defined and incorporated in doctrinal publications like Joint Publication 3-13, "Information Operations." Unfortunately, our ability to effectively measure its contribution relative to other battlefield systems remains limited. This research focuses on exploring the limits of the contributions that information superiority can make, examining the sensitivity of information superiority to varying information quality, and comparing those contributions with other contributing factors to battlefield results. Furthermore, an effort is made to identify some of the risks associated with using information superiority as a force multiplier. A simple decision model was developed, based on the concepts of a two-person zero sum game, to explore these questions. In the model, one side is provided varying degrees of an information advantage, while also varying degrees of information quality to the information advantage. Additionally, a variety of scenarios were considered involving varied levels of opposing side force levels. Experimental design techniques were employed to efficiently explore the model output space, while allowing for sufficient replications of the model at each design point, in order to provide a sufficient data set for analysis.