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Tutorials

The role of the tutorials is to provide a platform for a more intensive scientific exchange amongst researchers interested in a particular topic and as a meeting point for the community. Tutorials complement the depth-oriented technical sessions by providing participants with broad overviews of emerging fields. A tutorial can be scheduled for 1.5 or 3 hours.


Tutorial on
Strategic Analytics for National Defense and International Security


Instructor

Greg H. Parlier
GH Parlier Consulting
United States
 
Brief Bio
A West Point graduate and retired US Army Colonel, Greg is currently President, GH Parlier Consulting. A combat veteran with 5 operational deployments and service in over 20 foreign nations on 12 named operations, he was a paratroop commander in the 82nd Airborne Division for 8 years, air-ground battle staff officer, joint operations planner, and Army strategist. When he retired he was the Army's senior, most experienced Operations Research officer with assignments spanning land warfare analyses, manpower and personnel, program analysis and evaluation, and logistics. He was assistant then associate professor of Operations Research at West Point. For 12 years after retiring, he served on the research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses where he was an advisor to several foreign governments and senior OR analyst supporting the multi-national forces command in Iraq. He is a distinguished graduate of the US Marine Corps Command and Staff College, National Defense Fellow at MIT, Army War College graduate, and recently was adjunct Professor of Operations Research at NC State University. Dr. Parlier holds advanced degrees in engineering, Operations Research, and international security, a certificate in political philosophy from Oxford, and was among the first to complete MIT Sloan's executive program in Management, Innovation, and Technology. He is past president of the Military Applications Society of INFORMS, was vice president for the Military Operations Research Society, fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, elected to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, and previously served as program co-chair for ICORES.
Abstract

This tutorial introduces and describes Strategic Analytics, a new concept which aligns analytical methods and quantitative models with the “ends-ways-means” national security strategy paradigm.
Our world is facing truly enormous challenges over these next few decades. We confront an era of persistent conflict with growing geo-political competition fraught with great risks. While engineering achievements and technology advancements continue to astonish us, we must differentiate social from technical ingenuity in order to better understand how technology, management, and policy interact in our socio-technical and enterprise systems. Indeed, a fundamental question is whether our capacity for social ingenuity will be adequate for solving persisting problems, averting catastrophic failures, and managing daunting 21st Century international security issues. Will we be smart enough to bridge the growing social ingenuity gap while continuing to promote technological ingenuity? How can we address, in creative yet useful ways, the many persisting problems and seemingly intractable national and global security challenges that confront us? Strategic Analytics addresses these provocative questions. To fully capitalize on advances in data science and artificial intelligence/machine learning opportunities, the complementary power of Operations Research, analytics, and management innovation will be essential. Descriptive analytics are used to systematically diagnose structural disorders, perform root-cause analysis, and identify enabling remedies - “means”. Integration challenges are addressed using prescriptive methods to attain policy objectives for desired “end” states. The design and evaluation phase then incorporates predictive analytics and analytical architectures (“ways”) to ensure change management efforts pursue these desired “ends”. Functional components and enabling disciplines for Strategic Analytics will be described: enterprise systems and the Internet-of-Things; information technologies and decision support capabilities; engineering systems and dynamic strategic planning. To overcome both bureaucratic inertia and paralysis induced by disruptive chaos, cultures must have sources of innovation they can embrace. Some mechanism is needed to both challenge the underlying logic of current practices and to demonstrate with confidence credible and better ways ahead that will accommodate graceful transitions rather than catastrophic or slow-motion failures. Thus, central to these ambitious and complex projects are “engines for innovation” and analytical architectures to encourage, guide, and accelerate essential organizational learning for successful transformational endeavors. The transformational strategy described in this tutorial offers potential break-through solutions broadly applicable to the paralyzing conditions and perplexing dilemmas that confront public institutions and government bureaucracies.

Keywords

Enterprise Systems
Operations Research
Strategic Analytics
Management Innovation
Engineering Systems
Social Ingenuity
Public Policy/National Defense
International Security

Aims and Learning Objectives

Understand the concept of Strategic Analytics (SA)
Appreciate SA contributions to enterprise systems
Apply SA to relevant national defense and international security challenges
Contribute to the development and evolution of SA

Target Audience

Interested conference attendees

Prerequisite Knowledge of Audience

An understanding of OR methods
An appreciation for OR practice
Basic strategic planning concepts
Willingness to contribute ideas, knowledge, and experience


Detailed Outline

1. Introduction: The Future of Operations Research?
2. Geopolitical Conditions: The Global Landscape
3. Domestic Conditions: The State of Our Union
4. Bridging the Ingenuity Gap: Strategic Analytics
4.1. Information Technologies
4.2 Decision Support Systems
4.3 The Internet of Things
4.4. Engineering Systems
4.5. Dynamic Strategic Planning
4.6 Engines for Innovation
4.7. Analytical Architectures
5. Strategic Analytics: Applications to Present Challenges
5.1 Defense Resource Planning: Synchronizing Current and Future Capabilities
5.2 Sustainment Enterprise: Transforming Global Supply Chains
5.3 Human Capital Enterprise: Recruiting America's Army
6. Future Directions
6.1 Final Thoughts


Secretariat Contacts
e-mail: icores.secretariat@insticc.org

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