MG Flynn (on intell mainly)

[Jedburgh]

Since Gen. Flynn has gotten some attention on the MI side maybe attention should be paid to a concept developed by John Robb called "open source warfare" (2004/2005) and just recently scientifically verified by the Nature magazine article "Ecology of Human Warfare". For the first time via computer research one can make specific outside changes/impacts to the insurgency environment and see the results on the insurgency movement without having boots on the ground. And it goes a long way in explaining the media impact of their operations which can be verified by the impressive increase in video releases on the part of the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2008.

I would hesitate to say it is "scientifically verified". A magazine article doesn't verify anything, and the research is far from conclusive.

This link is to the full Nature article and this one is to the supplementary notes. The Mathematics of War website was set up by the authors to accompany the publication of the article and provide additional background.

Here is a critique of the Nature article by Drew Conway: On the Ecology of Human Insurgency.

Which elicited a response from John Robb and more discussion from Drew Conway. None of which really settled anything.