It would seem that when considering compression of the strategic environment it would have more to do with the political, resources, and large world view rather than the tactical unit level. However, we know that strategic choices have incredible impact on the tactical capability at the unit level, and further that actions at the unit level have substantial consequence on the strategic choices. It would appear that with small world communications (global, ubiquitous, instantaneous, and broadband) and the ability to have instant access from anywhere that strategic compression is a communications control issue.

The good side of strategic compression is that operational commanders would seem to have a better understanding of the current operational environment. The bad thing is that operational commanders can see set pieces and not realize the actual situation with a dirt in the teeth world view. This would seem to create an environmental disconnect between capability/sustainability and realization. I would think that constant inputs on current missions by commanders to the unit level would create feed back loops of indecision and overload commanders with requests for further direction while halting unit operations.

Unlike historical conflicts the ability to move information around the battlefield is only controlled in limited ways. Any cell phone, DVD Camera, or other transmission device in the environment is going to dispense with operational superiority in information operations. The way that information is viewed is contextual and when the context is not made apparent the message can be skewed and changed substantially. Whereas we can talk about “yellow journalism” and “bias” it is much harder to apply that to the selectivity of the images presented by either side of a conflict. Never mind the veracity and legitimacy of the information. This might suggest that strategic compression factors affecting command decisions might be infested with inappropriate information and create command error in assessment.

Inherent in the idea of compression is the concept that it is finite, and more importantly with compression comes inflexibility. You can only compress a command structure, tactical environment, or communications conduit so far. When compressing the structure a certain amount of loss occurs (common concept in communications and communication compression technology). The loss partially would appear to be in the flexibility of the operational entity. The flexibility that could be considered lost is the creative capability of the field commander to overcome issues through creative measures. We might not want field commanders becoming “artistic” in the field, but we most assuredly want them using higher order thinking skills to accomplish their objectives. Slightly inconsistent with the above analogy strategic compression suggest that more information is available since the single lines of communications loose some information through compression, more information is provided to the strategic commander as an overall broader understanding.

Just some simple thoughts early on a Sunday…