Military Review English Edition March-April 2014 | Page 70

solve organizational challenges. Ad hoc networks,
teams, and working groups manifest in these outof-band communication environments and can
develop into an emerging group of expert problem
solvers, innovators, or catalysts for change; they
are called positive deviants.5 Identifying positive
deviants and creating a culture that allows them
to prosper is a key challenge facing U.S. military
leaders.

A Smaller World
The primary technological catalyst for information permeability—social media—has played
a major role in shaping global events. Recent
upheaval in the Middle East demonstrates that
information technology can give rise to societal
change. While the lasting historical impact of
the Arab Spring is still difficult to predict, social
media continues to play a growing role in political,
societal, and economic developments throughout
the Arab region.6 Figure 2 shows the exponential
increase in Twitter use across Egypt during the
beginning of the Arab Spring—an explosion in data
that effectively made the world smaller.7 Information permeability driven by modern technology in
the hands of a youthful generation is affecting both
nation states and nonstate actors.
Global information permeability is challenging
the foundational values of hierarchical organizations. The U.S. military should learn from these

events and purposely adapt to avoid similar calamity. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the Army chief of
staff, reflected on the pace of technological change
in today’s world and the impact of rapid, global
information exchange upon our overall security
environment. He recognized that the Army, with its
global reach and responsibilities, requires large technological advantages, or what he termed “technological overmatch,” to prevail decisively in combat.8 The
requirement for this technological overmatch drives
the need to identify relevant information among a
deluge of data. The U.S. military must learn to adapt
rapidly in a highly technical information-permeable
world, or it will fail within it.

Differing Viewpoints
While the military hierarchy excels at providing
stability and maintaining order and discipline, its
traditional bureaucratic model has resulted in an
internal conflict of information-sharing ideals. Thrust
from a highly connected, decentralized environment
into the structured military, new recruits accustomed
to instant information availability and rapid change
become disillusioned and disenfranchised due to
slow decision making and tight control of information at each level in the chain of command. This situation is brought about through traditional viewpoints
regarding military functions. Peter Senge has characterized these personally established viewpoints,
assumptions, assertions, or beliefs about how one

Age

Personnel

%

17-25

610, 274

43.24%

26-30

321, 533

22.78%

31-35

201, 605

14.28%

36-40

153, 361

10.87%

41+

124, 652

8.83%

Figure 1
Active duty military personnel demographics, all service components, age comparison

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March-April 2014 MILITARY REVIEW