An Evaluation of the Human Domain Concept: Organizing the Knowledge, Influence, and Activity in Population-Centric Warfare – Military Innovation, Development in Sea, Air, Space, and Cyber Domains

This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. As the U.S. military prepares for future conflicts, the increasing likelihood of population-centric approaches to warfare sparks the need for adaptation to better understand, influence, and act in the human environment. The idea of a human domain of warfare emerged from the need for adaptation. Warfighting domains provide the US military with a division of labor and knowledge for creating, developing, and employing warfighting capabilities. Proponents for including a human domain argue that viewing populations as a military operating realm will better integrate joint operations, focus the US military's future innovation, and delineate primary tasks between special operations and conventional forces. Organization theory and management research demonstrates the ability for new domains to generate innovation. However, innovation and expansion in dynamic environments tend to avoid interdependencies. The development of the US Navy from 1865 to 1898, the US Air Force from 1911 to 1947, and the current development within the space and cyber domains provide additional insights into the dynamics of warfighting domains and military innovation. The development in sea, air, space, and cyber domains demonstrate four key relationships between innovation and integration: uneven risk to forces, unequal rates of adaptation between interdependent forces, conflicting requirements for investment, and building civilian sector capacity to support. Ultimately, the human domain concept provides an analogy to guide strategic thinking, but not an organizational construct for pursuing the goals of integration, adaptation, and delineation of tasks.

In order to evaluate the utility of a human domain concept, the next section reviews the available literature to define warfighting domains, establish their functional purpose, and expands upon the human domain concept's intended purpose and initiatives. The definition of domains and their purpose provides the essence for the human domain's goals. These goals define the human domains utility if included among the warfighting domains. The second section introduces organization theories and associated business research to evaluate the human domain concept's utility as a method to developing capabilities for population-centric warfare approaches. Organization theory and management practices highlight potential effects from adopting the human domain concept to inform future military development. Knowledge imparted from these theories and practices helps to anticipate unintended consequences. The final section of this paper uses historical examples from the sea, air, and the two technology focused domains - space and cyber - to illustrate dilemmas and conflicts, which can influence the human domain's conceptual efficacy. By using the historical context from other warfighting domains, the potential effects described in the theory provide insights into the conditions that could create or amplify unintended consequences.