Does Military Experience Influence Strategic Decision-Making with Respect to Geographical Headquarter Placement

Abstract

Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations leverage five key disciplines to facilitate and support the detection of our adversaries defensive posture, battle rhythm pattern, and headquarter location. These disciplines include geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), imagery intelligence (IMINT), and human intelligence (HUMINT). However, understanding when to utilize the appropriate discipline for intel collections can be extremely challenging. To combat this issue, the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright-Patterson AFB developed Intrage. Intrage is a strategic decision-making game developed to augment and enhance intel analysts understanding of ISR operations. The objective is to identify the location of the opposition’s headquarters on a fictional map. Moreover, previous literature has discovered that behavioral characteristics learned through experience can significantly influence decision-making outcomes. Therefore, a study was conducted to determine if there is a correlation with respect to headquarter placement based on military experience when provided a fictional map. The findings provided underlying evidence that participants with military experience centralized their headquarter location compared to participants with no military experience (p=0.02). This discovery will support the maturity and development of Intrage and provide behavioral characteristics which can be used to predict future military actions.

Keywords: Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Intrage, Strategic Decision-Making, Experience

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1005821