Institution

Cosmic Thinking: A Ptolemaic View of Military Decisions

Cosmic Thinking: A Ptolemaic View of Military Decisions

Operational and strategic level leaders cannot get caught in the rapid pace of tactics, but neither can they ignore the fact that decisions at the tactical level must proceed at the pace demanded by the situation. When operational and strategic leaders increase the pace of decision-making, it can lead to a chasing of the bright and shiny object mentality. Decisions in these orbits include a set of dialogues and tend to be iterative. Further, leaders at all levels must consider the complexity of decision making at each level above and below them.

The Institutional Level of War

The Institutional Level of War

The capacity of the United States military to fund and field an institutional force is an asymmetric advantage over enemies and adversaries around the globe...The development and advancement of knowledge necessary to improve the force is not a distraction from the operational elements in the current fight. By recognizing the value of the institutional level of war and the contributions of leaders practicing the institutional art, the United States will maintain this asymmetric advantage for decades to come.