Linking Target Selection to Political Objectives

<p>Since airpower strategists began seeing the enemy as a single system made up of groups of components our targeting philosophy has evolved from trying to effectively blow things up to blowing things up for effect. Our goal is to find and effect the targets that will ultimately lead to attainment of our political objectives. Yet how do we logically link a target to the desired political objectives? If we consider the enemy as a system we realize that an action on one part of the system will often result in unexpected reactions in other parts of the system. We must take a systems approach to targeting. However the experts on systems theory are not in the military but in the business world. One such expert is Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt. He has developed a logical method for exposing links in complex business systems called the Theory of Constraints. Military planners can use these same tools to uncover links within and between an enemy's centers of gravity.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>