Information Operations Planning [Hardcover]

Patrick D. Allen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1580535178 | ISBN-13: 978-1580535175 | Publication Date: November 2006 | Edition: 1

Information operations involve the use of military information and how it is gathered, manipulated, and fused. It includes such critical functions as intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, command and control, communications, and precision navigation. Separating myth from reality, this authoritative resource provides military professionals with a current and comprehensive understanding of information warfare operations planning, including offensive, defensive, and influence operations. The book identifies the features of information operations that differ from traditional military operations and reveals why this discipline is more important now than ever before. Professionals discover new planning tools that have been brought together under a single platform to become the next Information Operations Planning Tool for the U.S. Department of Defence. Additionally, the book defines and identifies new threats and opportunities, and explains why the U.S. is not yet winning the war for the minds.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Patrick D. Allen is senior lead systems engineer at General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems and an adjunct professor at Old Dominion University. Dr. Allen holds an M.S. in operations research from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.S.S. from Army War College, and a Ph.D. in operations research and mineral economics from the Colorado School of Mines.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: Artech House Publishers; 1 edition (November 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580535178
• ISBN-13: 978-1580535175
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,242,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provides checklists excellently devised as tools for managers and strategists, October 2, 2007

By 

C. Demchak "professor, international security... (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Information Operations Planning (Hardcover)

Every new and rapidly exploding field needs an integrating book to guide practitioners as well as strategists in understanding and acting on the emerging knowledge. Patrick D. Allen's book, Information Operations Planning, is just such a valuable addition. This work is an antidote to the hundreds of deskchair information war philosophers proposing policies they themselves have never tried. It serves a guide to conducting sensibly researched, adaptively implemented, and properly monitored information operations (IO) missions. The material in this book informs and instructs, offering both the research insights of the social scientist and the knowledge base of the technical fields.

In particular, for major operational considerations, Dr. Allen provides guiding checklists excellently devised as tools for strategists and implementers to ensure their thinking and actions are systematic as well as responsive to complex situations. The lists are not meant as a plug-and-chug alternative to thinking; rather, they are useful ways to integrate the lessons here with the actual circumstances faced by the strategist or operational planner. For example, the book's breadth ranges from a section on legal issues of IO to the best practices for training computer network operations (CNO) to how to design messages for particular effects irrespective of the technical means at hand. Furthermore, while acronyms can get dense at times, Dr Allen carefully defines them and minimizes confusion. Furthermore, the writing is clear and systematic even as the discussion ranges widely across the relevant literatures of both information and behavioral sciences.

Defense or security practitioners of all flavors, academics, technology professionals, government leaders, or managers of learning organizations will find this book eye-opening to read, and exceptionally useful to keep handy in considering employing information whether offensively and defensively. The final chapter on the future of information conflict in the 'idea battlespace' is less a conclusion than a set of operational axioms to guide the thinking of current and future IO warriors. From noting everyone has a message and a preferred audience, to the absence of permanent enemies to the observation that there is no rear area or sanctuary in the information battlespace, Dr Allen blends the social with systems analysis with computer networking to offer a valuable contribution across the board.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must-read, November 19, 2007

By 

Pascale C. Siegel "IO Consultant" (McLean, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Information Operations Planning (Hardcover)

It has been said that if used properly, Information Operations (IO) could dramatically shorten the duration and drastically reduce the destructions and casualties of military conflicts. So far however, IO has hardly measured up to the hype. In his Planning Information Operations, Patrick Allen argues that the US has failed to take the full measure of the information age and therefore has under-utilized IO in support of national objectives.
Allen then proceeds to show that IO could be better leveraged. He develops a series of step-by-step practical guides to assist planning development across the spectrum of operations and planning processes. Allen proposes a series of checklists designed to provide specialists and observers alike with a systematic methodology to transform concepts and ideas into ready-to-use strategies.
Allen should be lauded for describing IO as "one system," not simply as one of or as the aggregation of pre-existing operational functions, namely EW, CNO, PSYOP, MILDEC and OPSEC. He should also be lauded for placing much emphasis on the need to generate feedback continuously. Indeed, feedback and effect assessment have generally sorely lacking in real operations.
Allen's discussion of the field of influence operations is not as convincing as the rest of the book. This is in great part because he uses the joint definition that defines PSYOP as the core capability for influence operations. However, in the real world, support capabilities such as public affairs, civil affairs and public diplomacy are as important, if not more, in shaping the media environment than PSYOP. The contributions of public affairs, civil affairs, and other military functions need to be taken into account in a comprehensive analysis of influence operations.
Overall, Patrick Allen's book is a must-read for anyone interested in information operations, observer and practitionners alike.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very useful for reference and background, December 16, 2007

By 

D. F. Davis (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Information Operations Planning (Hardcover)

Patrick Allen's Information Operations Planning is a very useful reference for those interested in the field of IO and planning from an analytic point of view. His review of the history and differences of the various forms of IO is, if not unique, of great use to both researchers and analysts. I particularly liked Part III and his development of the fifteen features of IO. A book that belongs on the shelf of every academic and analyst involved in current operations across the spectrum of civil and military engagement.