BALANCING ENDS, WAYS, AND MEANS IN THE INFORMATION AGE

As we enter a new technological age, devising the proper national security strategy can have a profound effect on the outcome of war. There is no better example than the French approach after World War I. During the interwar period from 1919 to 1939, France formulated a weak and vulnerable strategy of forward defense, driven by her obsession with the methodical battle technique perfected at the end of World War I. On 10 May 1940, the world watched with horror as Germany, with far fewer resources, successfully invaded the Low Countries and Northern France. Germany had made the fight strategic choices; her blitzkrieg concept of warfighting took full advantage of the mechanization of warfare. While France was mired in an older strategy, Gernlany was energized by emerging technology to develop a bold offensive strategy. Today, man's ways of making war are changing again because of new information age technologies. What can we do today to avoid repeating the French debacle? In War and Anti-War, Alvin and Heidi Tomer argue that we need to formulate a capstone concept of knowledge strategy to effectively take advantage of these information age technologies. In other words, we need to understand the ends, ways, and means of information age strategy. Change introduced by the information age is arguably greater than that which faced the post-World War I nations. Moreover, knowledge encompasses more than the military element of power. Knowledge strategy must also address the political and economic aspects of power, which become even more useful in the information age. Further, the extent to which we allow our organizational structures and social patterns to change will determine the success of knowledge strategy.

The information age brings a new level of personalization to our world that changes the value of consumer products and services.

Americans value their rights as individuals. The information age promotes and enhances these rights by empowering the individual. Unlike television and radio, information age digital communications allow on-demand programming we simply have to ask explicitly for what we want and when we want it. With a computer terminal and telephone modem, an individual can trade shares any time of the day on any of the world's major stock exchanges. Telecommunications and virtual reality technologies make it possible for doctors at the Mayo Clinic to perform surgery on patients in any part of the world. In sum, the information age empowers individuals with access, mobility, and the ability to effect change anywhere, instantaneously. This is what makes the information age so different from the past.