Jacquelyn Schneider
For the US, the information age seemed to advantage the offense, with technologies and campaigns of long-range, fast, and overwhelming first strike advantage. But where did the US digital cult of the offensive come from? To answer this question, I examine the development of two key US warfighting concepts – the Army’s field manual 100-5 and the 2012 Air Sea Battle. The exploration reveals a complicated relationship between civ-mil relations, an American and Army culture at a key domestic moment, and a geopolitical context which culminated to create a digital cult of the offensive in the information age.
In the mid-twentieth century, inventors discovered they could condense the labyrinth of vacuum tubes – the brain of first computers – into a tiny silicon disc called the microprocessor. The microprocessor fundamentally changed the world’s relationship with information, creating potential for vast quantities of data. The subsequent advent of the internet and its ability to connect data stored on these tiny silicon chips across thousands of miles enabled the introduction of precision-guided missiles, remotely controlled weapons, and increasingly long-distance and autonomous intelligence collection.
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