Swarming and the Future of Conflict

Readers interested in this topic should also see Swarming and the. Future of Conflict (RAND, ) by John Arquilla and David Ronfeldt.
Table of contents

This report has been a great influence in my research and understanding of the tactics of swarming. I believe swarming to be a viable option to add to law enforcement response to the evolving threat.

Swarming and the Future of Conflict

Developing a swarming force implies, among other things, radical changes in current military organizational structures. Examples of swarming can be found throughout history, but it is only now able to emerge as a doctrine in its own right. That is largely because swarming depends on a devolution of power to small units and a capacity to interconnect those units that has only recently become feasible, due to the information revolution.

Briefly, we advance the idea that swarming—engaging an adversary from all directions simultaneously, either with fire or in force—is one of four types of doctrine that have long been around. The other forms are the chaotic melee, brute-force massing, and nimble maneuver. Each form has had a different information requirement—melees requiring the least, maneuvers needing more than massing, and swarming depending completely on robust, rapid communications.

Swarming and the Future of Conflict by John Arquilla

While all the forms have been around throughout history, melees and massing appear to have been dominant at the tactical level primarily in pre-industrial times. Such paragons of maneuver as Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan are overshadowed by a long procession of mass-oriented militaries—a point borne out by the brief eminence of the empires they created. Over the past two centuries, however, mass and maneuver have followed a much more interactive pattern, featuring the dominance of the former, at times e.

We argue that the rise of advanced information operations will bring swarming to the fore, establishing a new pattern in conflict. This study derives insights from examples of swarming in nature and in history. Both areas are replete with instances of omnidirectional yet well-timed assaults. From ants and bees and wolf packs, to ancient Parthians and medieval Mongols, swarming in force, or of fire, has often proven a very effective way of fighting. We made it to 3 How to Become Police Officer has honored us as well! On Tactics by B. Friedman Of Garbage Cans and Paradox: An Interview with B.

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Run Out and Buy: Anatomy of a Warrior: How Can We Get Better? How To Improve Performance? Don Vandergriff on Military Personnel Reform: Law Enforcement Close Quarter Battle: Vehicle Stops Strategies and Tactics: How Are Your Tactics, Officer?

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Police officers I beg you to please run out and buy this book! What a great tactical resource!

The New Rules of Warfare: John Arquilla on the 'Netwar'

Leadership in Public Safety Podcast: Herman Goldstein, Fundamental Objectives of Policing: Are They Relevant Today? Do the legal rules for using deadly force, still make sense?

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Complacency and False Sense of Urgency: The Last Hundred Yards: Types of Cases Report: Our Failure to Concern Ourselves Why Adaptability Trumps Hierarchy? Military Reform Through Education: Adapting Isn't Good Enough Simon Sinek on the responsibility that leaders have to create environments where people are more productive,and inspired The Hunting Story - the meaning of human equality Ethical Warriors with Jack Hoban Emotional Intelligence: Is Your Police Organization United?

Key to More Moral Warfare by H. The Tao of Boyd: Cops With War Toys: Militarizing police is the worst way to fight crime. Use of Force Investigations: The Poetry of War Book Review: American Spartan Command Culture: Officer Education in the U. Developing for Mission Command by Donald E. Engbeck Why good leaders make you feel safe Guardians vs. The Ingenuity of Swarm Intelligence Outstanding piece! Toward a Police Ethos: The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Fighting the good fight with moral clarity by Lt.

Say it ain't so! Don Vandergriff's, Raising The Bar: The overall aim is sustainable pulsing — swarm networks must be able to coalesce rapidly and stealthily on a target, then dissever and redisperse, immediately ready to re-combine for a new pulse. In a view we have elaborated before, the history of military and, to a lesser extent, social conflict is largely a history of the progressive development of four basic forms of engagement: Briefly, conflict has evolved from chaotic melees in which every man fought on his own, to the design of massed but often rigidly-shaped formations, and then to the adoption of maneuver.

Swarming has appeared at times in this history, but its major advances as a doctrine will occur in the coming decades. What our past write-ups do not show, except in a passing footnote, is that this formulation derives from a view of social evolution — a theory I term TIMN — which holds that, across the ages, societies have come up with only four major forms of organization: Thus, early tribes are associated with melees, hierarchical institutions with the rise of massed formations, market-oriented societies with the turn to maneuver doctrines, and now the new age of networks with swarming.

Two rival views of swarming remain deficient in our view: In any case, these two other schools of thought about swarming keep evolving in our direction. Most interested parties have viewed swarming as and often only as tactics. But I continue to think that something much more than tactics is emerging. I leave that to John, since he remains actively concerned with it and its potentials.

My main interest is in non-military swarming by civil- and uncivil-society actors — for example, as it arose at times in the context of Occupy! By now, I see, my holdings on the topic have grown quite large and diverse. This is not the place to list them extensively, but I would point to two sites that have carried lots of posts about swarming, including our work: And from a military perspective, keep an eye on the War on the Rocks blog warontherocks.

The Rise of the Digital Anti-Establishment in Judging from their preliminary blog posts, neither recognizes our work. But both will surely serve to expand attention to all variants of the swarming concept.


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Falkvinge's book is available online here , and some review comments are here. But from what I can see so far, the term appears only in the title. It might be considered such only if it can be viewed as a step in a vast slow-motion global strategy by militant jihadists. However, the quick response to the bombing embodied two kinds of swarming: One was the multi-agency police response — indeed, swarming has long been a standard response mode for police, particularly in their deployment patterns. All quite impressive and yet to be fully reported and assessed. Posted by David Ronfeldt at 1: April 24, at 7: May 2, at May 10, at 6: