I took the plunge this weekend and joined Facebook. My 17 year old son and even my wife had joined long before I could bring myself to do it – it just didn’t seem like something a stodgy old soldier would do. In fact, these days, the military bans the use of Facebook and similar social networking environments, although probably as much for security concerns as bandwidth conservation. Being long retired from the military, such a ban influenced me nonetheless. It wasn’t my cup of tea.
Another reason it wasn’t for me is that I had long disdained the so-called “I Love Me” walls that my fellow officers persisted in putting up every time they fell in on a new command or office. It always smacked of “showing off” their medals, class pictures and other successes while trying to impress their subordinates and peers (it never worked on their seniors since the bosses had even bigger walls to fill up). I even succumbed to it by the time I made Lieutenant Colonel. As an admission, I have used LinkedIn for many years, but always rationalized that as being necessary to build a good professional business network.
I might have had it all wrong, however, as Facebook has come to demonstrate to me. In this blog, I will endeavor to write about the way the Connected Age is changing relationships, both locally and globally. It’s really about exposing something of yourself in order for others to get to know you, perhaps where they relate something of themselves to something they see in you. It isn’t always easy, as my own experiences and those of other fellow officers showed me – some people are just more private than others. And some cultures are likewise more private and closed. We are very blessed to live in such a free and open country, as so many Americans understand.
In order to get along with others, however, it may be that you just need to know something about them: social networks enable that dynamic to occur more quickly and visually. Sharing your life and interests in pictures, telling others “What are you doing right now?” and looking for new “friends” with similar interests or backgrounds, almost forces us to strive for a new level of transparency and social consciousness that living in an isolated world could never achieve. It’s a lot more than an “I Love Me” wall, it’s a decision to be a part of a community and help change the way people think. As we move along this connected path to new forms of local and global social community, it may just be that “I Love Me” walls turn into “I Love You” walls, an important concept even in Facebook.
Until the next time,
- Just an Old Soldier’s musings
Monday, February 2, 2009
Experiences Converge
I open this blog, my first, with the thoughts of my friend, Atlantic Monthly reporter Jim Fallows, when he graciously took on the assignment to write the foreword to a paper I edited last year, entitled “Deterrence 2.0: Deterring Violent Non-State Actors in Cyberspace.” Jim provided these thoughts on his reflections about a set of essays covering the aforementioned topic in order to frame a new way to think about deterrence, containment, engagement and other political approaches to global relationships. His thoughts framed the collection of essays within the larger paper very well. Jim’s words started me thinking over the last year about what must change in our nation’s approach to the rest of the world, particularly with a new president and the challenges we face as the United States of America. From Jim’s preamble:
The details of conflict and combat are always changing: new adversaries, new technologies, new spheres of contention, new vulnerabilities, new avenues of defense and attack. But the fundamentals of conflict and combat are always the same. They involve recognizing and responding to the changed reality faster than an adversary can; using the new opportunities for attack and response; creating the bonds of trust, understanding, and shared values that let one’s own forces and allies cooperate spontaneously, while eroding those bonds on the other side.
Jim’s thoughts were in response to an obviously Defense Department-initiated project, but his wise perceptions about our approach to dealing with the rest of the world point out the need to create and nurture “bonds of trust, understanding and shared values” among ourselves and our allies, “while eroding those bonds on the other side.” Herein rests the strength of intellect and experience that follows many years of international reporting. Jim clearly nailed the basis for why we need to leverage the Connected Age on our behalf, both as an enabler for military strength and, equally important, for strengthening the bonds with our allies.
My dear friend, Captain Todd Veazie, United States Navy SEALS, also wrote an introduction to the paper on “Deterrence 2.0” that captured his own many years of experience and reflection on a changing world brought on by connectedness and the rich interactions of many global citizens. Todd, a fellow 2003 graduate of the National War College, where he befriended this old soldier, draws on a depth of experience and education I could never hope to recall. Todd’s thoughts about deterrence in a globally connected world:
Like Damocles’ sword, this global interconnectivity both strengthens us and moderates us at the same time. We are strengthened because we are better connected to others than ever before and thus capable of spreading the seeds of liberty and opportunity to populations that yearn for it and where the lack of it is still being justified. We are moderated by this interconnectivity because others can more easily exploit the seams and turn our freedoms against us to infect with vitriolic propaganda that violently radicalizes populations across this interconnected web.
The world has changed and both the process and effects of deterrence are changing. This report is a magnificent beginning to a necessary discourse about Deterrence 2.0 and even Diplomacy 2.0. This conversation must include all of the United States and its Allies. I am delighted to forward this report to you, the reader. May we understand and learn to exploit the insights and recommendations of the authors as we better understand the principles of deterring violent non-state actors in cyberspace. This report initiates that conversation.
From time to time, as this blog matures, I will quote from this report, an unclassified accounting of the exchanges of some remarkable thinkers about global affairs in the Connected Age. Many of you may have already seen the report and accepted or rejected its premises and conclusions. Regardless of what you may have thought about the substance of the report, however, the topic is more relevant than ever and hence this blog seeks to further the dialogue and stimulate a conversation that may inform our approach to global citizenry in an age where the US is not necessarily the most connected. That topic in itself is also worthy of discussion – perhaps we will.
Deterrence, containment, and even engagement will change in the Connected Age…they already have, but our doctrine and policies must now catch up to these changes. But, we can’t wait until then to begin challenging our statesmen, politicians and soldiers to think and act in light of these changes. Perhaps this blog can participate in that very important conversation.
Until the next time,
- Just an Old Soldier’s musings
The details of conflict and combat are always changing: new adversaries, new technologies, new spheres of contention, new vulnerabilities, new avenues of defense and attack. But the fundamentals of conflict and combat are always the same. They involve recognizing and responding to the changed reality faster than an adversary can; using the new opportunities for attack and response; creating the bonds of trust, understanding, and shared values that let one’s own forces and allies cooperate spontaneously, while eroding those bonds on the other side.
Jim’s thoughts were in response to an obviously Defense Department-initiated project, but his wise perceptions about our approach to dealing with the rest of the world point out the need to create and nurture “bonds of trust, understanding and shared values” among ourselves and our allies, “while eroding those bonds on the other side.” Herein rests the strength of intellect and experience that follows many years of international reporting. Jim clearly nailed the basis for why we need to leverage the Connected Age on our behalf, both as an enabler for military strength and, equally important, for strengthening the bonds with our allies.
My dear friend, Captain Todd Veazie, United States Navy SEALS, also wrote an introduction to the paper on “Deterrence 2.0” that captured his own many years of experience and reflection on a changing world brought on by connectedness and the rich interactions of many global citizens. Todd, a fellow 2003 graduate of the National War College, where he befriended this old soldier, draws on a depth of experience and education I could never hope to recall. Todd’s thoughts about deterrence in a globally connected world:
Like Damocles’ sword, this global interconnectivity both strengthens us and moderates us at the same time. We are strengthened because we are better connected to others than ever before and thus capable of spreading the seeds of liberty and opportunity to populations that yearn for it and where the lack of it is still being justified. We are moderated by this interconnectivity because others can more easily exploit the seams and turn our freedoms against us to infect with vitriolic propaganda that violently radicalizes populations across this interconnected web.
The world has changed and both the process and effects of deterrence are changing. This report is a magnificent beginning to a necessary discourse about Deterrence 2.0 and even Diplomacy 2.0. This conversation must include all of the United States and its Allies. I am delighted to forward this report to you, the reader. May we understand and learn to exploit the insights and recommendations of the authors as we better understand the principles of deterring violent non-state actors in cyberspace. This report initiates that conversation.
From time to time, as this blog matures, I will quote from this report, an unclassified accounting of the exchanges of some remarkable thinkers about global affairs in the Connected Age. Many of you may have already seen the report and accepted or rejected its premises and conclusions. Regardless of what you may have thought about the substance of the report, however, the topic is more relevant than ever and hence this blog seeks to further the dialogue and stimulate a conversation that may inform our approach to global citizenry in an age where the US is not necessarily the most connected. That topic in itself is also worthy of discussion – perhaps we will.
Deterrence, containment, and even engagement will change in the Connected Age…they already have, but our doctrine and policies must now catch up to these changes. But, we can’t wait until then to begin challenging our statesmen, politicians and soldiers to think and act in light of these changes. Perhaps this blog can participate in that very important conversation.
Until the next time,
- Just an Old Soldier’s musings
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