Papers by Robert D Steele
The information and intelligence (decision-support) domains have lost their way. Excessive and ge... more The information and intelligence (decision-support) domains have lost their way. Excessive and generally incoherent investments in information technology, including scattered attempts to achieve artificial intelligence, have resulted in the neglect of 99% of all relevant information, a failure to invest in information-sharing and sense-making tools, a failure to nurture human intelligence (HUMINT) networks, and a failure to capitalize on the radical (root) value represented by holistic analytics with embedded true cost economics. In passing, because of government corruption enabling predatory industrial practices, we have also neglected open source everything engineering without which we cannot achieve truly smart cities or smart nations or a prosperous world that works for all. A Global Brain that more ably melds human and artificial intelligence is a potential advance enabling the technological shaping of our future, and positive social change. The four approaches to creating a Global Brain include organicism, encyclopedism, emergentism, and evolutionary cybernetics. The limitations of computer processing and scientific reductionism are briefly reviewed in order to reject organicism and encyclopedism as primary approaches. A way forward is outlined that restores the centrality of the human factor in accelerating emergentism and evolutionary cybernetics. An Open Source (Technologies) Agency is proposed as a platform for blending artificial intelligence with human intelligence in full transparency – a Global Brain / World Brain network and tool-kit that connects all minds to all information in all languages all the time.
The American Republic is out of balance -- collapsing from poor governance and the triumph of spe... more The American Republic is out of balance -- collapsing from poor governance and the triumph of special interests over the public interest. There are two root causes -- the corruption of the US political process that disenfranchises sixty percent of the public and blocks Independents and small parties from ballot access, and a dysfunctional intelligence architecture that lacks integrity -- as Henry Kissinger has observed, intelligence is not necessary to the exercise of power (as practiced by the elite-driven US national security state) and is often useless.
No one since President Ike Eisenhower and Project Solarium has ever attempted an official honest, comprehensive, and coherent formulation of a grand strategy that balances ends, means, and ways for all government functions, not only in the national security arena, where the military is consuming 60% of the disposable budget in 2015, but across the domestic front as well.
This essay began with a simple question: should the Army be buying 55-60 ton infantry vehicles and preparing for a Big War with China or Russia on "over there?" The answer to that question turns out to be no, but only if the Air Force can do precision nuclear deterrence and the US Navy can build a 450 ship Navy.
Surprisingly and most helpful, by creating a grand strategy at four levels of analysis (strategic, operational, tactical, and technical) in which four stove-pipes are considered side by side (White House & Congress; Intelligence & Covert Actions; Diplomacy & Development; Army, Air Force, Navy & Marines) a process has been identified that could remove Congressional opposition to long-needed reforms -- a process that is not only job and revenue neutral from district to district, but because of its overall coherence, enables both the reconstitution of the home front, and the creation of a strong military that is affordable, balanced, and flexible.
In his new white paper on existing Search and Analysis softwares (mostly proprietary), Stephen E.... more In his new white paper on existing Search and Analysis softwares (mostly proprietary), Stephen E. Arnold offers the first-ever combination of a comprehensive topic review with detailed profiles of each of the major capabilities offered. The Foreword provides the context for what is needed and what is lacking -- in a word, what industry and its clients have today stinks. The functional requirements document (high level) for a clean-sheet open-source approach is provided.
The emerging discipline of Collective Intelligence (CI) has been mis-directed by a combination of... more The emerging discipline of Collective Intelligence (CI) has been mis-directed by a combination of the faddish focus on “wisdom of the crowds” without conversation or dynamic facilitation, and an academic “ivory tower” fascination with artificial machine intelligence, something I studied deeply in the 1980’s for the Central Intelligence Agency. CI must be appreciated in a cosmic and spiritual context as well as an ecological and social context that respects the inherent intelligence and communications skills of plants and animals along with the emerging understanding of how all matter is energy and energy is a form of communication, CI in the 21st Century – a human endeavor – must focus on the true meaning of intelligence as evidence-based decision-support, rooted in holistic analytics, true cost economics, and open source everything enabling open source engineering. In this article I provide a roadmap for eradicating corruption and waste in all forms through the creation of a School of Future-Oriented Hybrid Governance, a World Brain Institute, a Global (Serious) Game, and an Open Source Everything Innovation Hub. My hope is that we can reinvent intelligence to re-engineer and re-open the human academy, economy, governance, and society such that the five billion poorest are empowered to create infinite sustainable wealth at the same time that we stop, in a non-violent manner, the pathologies of Western capitalism, colonialism, and militarism.
Invited paper for a UN International Expert Advisory Group, outlined how to achieve the Sustainab... more Invited paper for a UN International Expert Advisory Group, outlined how to achieve the Sustainability Development Goals Through Intelligence (Decision-Support) Integrating Holistic Analytics, True Cost Economics, and Open Source Everything -- with graphics, provides architecture for a United Nations Open-Source Decision-Support Information Network (UNODIN).
An indictment of the Undersecretary of Defense in its present and historic form, failing to produ... more An indictment of the Undersecretary of Defense in its present and historic form, failing to produce intelligence (decision-support) relevant to strategy, policy, acquisition, or operations.
Related the changing craft of intelligence and the changing nature of air power to the current an... more Related the changing craft of intelligence and the changing nature of air power to the current and future possibilities for UN operations for peace and prosperity. Introduces concepts of Peace Jumpers, Precision-Guided Cargo Parachutes, Regional Air-Sea Management, Multinational Decision-Support Centres, and broad use of Liberation Technology.
Provides context for the failure of US national (secret) intelligence, with specific summary indi... more Provides context for the failure of US national (secret) intelligence, with specific summary indictment of each agency, concluding with a twelve-step plan for restoring the integrity (and utility) of the US national intelligence enterprise.
Discusses seven false premises blocking reform.
Spanish-language write-up of the briefing presented to the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) on... more Spanish-language write-up of the briefing presented to the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) on the need for a regional open source agency and multi-national decision-support centre.
A seminal work bringing the craft of intelligence into the 21st Century, outlining the emergent t... more A seminal work bringing the craft of intelligence into the 21st Century, outlining the emergent third era (Smart Nation) in contrast to the first era (Secret War) and second era (Strategic Analysis). Integrates human evolution (eight tribes), technical evolution (open source ecology), and procedural evolution (all threats, all policies, all languages, all mediums all the time).
Outlines changes in the craft of intelligence, technologies, and mind-sets relevant to how the No... more Outlines changes in the craft of intelligence, technologies, and mind-sets relevant to how the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and public health authorities might advance in the future.
An early effort to bring together in one place all aspects relevant to the UN becoming an indepen... more An early effort to bring together in one place all aspects relevant to the UN becoming an independent open source intelligence (decision support) player no longer dependent on Member states for weak streams of often incorrect information, and able to use intelligence to enhance prospects for peace and prosperity among the five billion poor.
Originally developed for a briefing to the Advanced Faculty at the University of British Columbia... more Originally developed for a briefing to the Advanced Faculty at the University of British Columbia, this chapter is a first effort to show how the craft of intelligence is essential to the emerging craft of earth engineering including harm avoidance.
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This monograph, for the US Army Strategic Studies Institute, defines the fifteen slices of Human ... more This monograph, for the US Army Strategic Studies Institute, defines the fifteen slices of Human Intelligence, only four of which are classified, that should be -- but are not -- managed as a whole.
Building on a career across national and military intelligence, including several books, this art... more Building on a career across national and military intelligence, including several books, this article in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence outlines fundamental changes needed to restore the effectiveness and utility of the US intelligence community costing upwards of $100 billion a year today, yet delivering, as General Tony Zinni has stated, "at best" 4% of what a major policymakers or military commander needs.
A recent attempt to highlight the incapacity of the current US secret intelligence community. Not... more A recent attempt to highlight the incapacity of the current US secret intelligence community. Not only does the President not receive adequate intelligence support, but virtually no decision-support of import is provided to anyone else from Cabinet secretaries down to desk officers, or Congressional jurisdictions or military acquisition or any of a myriad of other critical functions that would benefit form open-source decision-support.
A summary of various reformist endeavors from 1989 onwards, at each juncture blocked by the manda... more A summary of various reformist endeavors from 1989 onwards, at each juncture blocked by the mandarins in power.
I was the original editor, then the senior editor, but after I saw what a difference Mark Tovey m... more I was the original editor, then the senior editor, but after I saw what a difference Mark Tovey made, I took my name off the cover to honor his emergence as a PhD and thought leader.
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Papers by Robert D Steele
No one since President Ike Eisenhower and Project Solarium has ever attempted an official honest, comprehensive, and coherent formulation of a grand strategy that balances ends, means, and ways for all government functions, not only in the national security arena, where the military is consuming 60% of the disposable budget in 2015, but across the domestic front as well.
This essay began with a simple question: should the Army be buying 55-60 ton infantry vehicles and preparing for a Big War with China or Russia on "over there?" The answer to that question turns out to be no, but only if the Air Force can do precision nuclear deterrence and the US Navy can build a 450 ship Navy.
Surprisingly and most helpful, by creating a grand strategy at four levels of analysis (strategic, operational, tactical, and technical) in which four stove-pipes are considered side by side (White House & Congress; Intelligence & Covert Actions; Diplomacy & Development; Army, Air Force, Navy & Marines) a process has been identified that could remove Congressional opposition to long-needed reforms -- a process that is not only job and revenue neutral from district to district, but because of its overall coherence, enables both the reconstitution of the home front, and the creation of a strong military that is affordable, balanced, and flexible.
No one since President Ike Eisenhower and Project Solarium has ever attempted an official honest, comprehensive, and coherent formulation of a grand strategy that balances ends, means, and ways for all government functions, not only in the national security arena, where the military is consuming 60% of the disposable budget in 2015, but across the domestic front as well.
This essay began with a simple question: should the Army be buying 55-60 ton infantry vehicles and preparing for a Big War with China or Russia on "over there?" The answer to that question turns out to be no, but only if the Air Force can do precision nuclear deterrence and the US Navy can build a 450 ship Navy.
Surprisingly and most helpful, by creating a grand strategy at four levels of analysis (strategic, operational, tactical, and technical) in which four stove-pipes are considered side by side (White House & Congress; Intelligence & Covert Actions; Diplomacy & Development; Army, Air Force, Navy & Marines) a process has been identified that could remove Congressional opposition to long-needed reforms -- a process that is not only job and revenue neutral from district to district, but because of its overall coherence, enables both the reconstitution of the home front, and the creation of a strong military that is affordable, balanced, and flexible.