BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – The Modelling & Simulation, Learning Technology Branch from NATO Allied Command Transformation recently held the first Capability Programme Plan workshop regarding the Political-Military Assisted Decision Making concept. This event allowed stakeholders to review operational requirements and to make plans for future testing.
At the NATO Summit in London in 2019, the North Atlantic Council recognized that the Alliance could benefit from a tool that would help them sort through the complexities involved in decision making at high level. For example, the Permanent Representatives of the North Atlantic Council must constantly assess the interdependencies between the Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information and Infrastructure instruments of power with each new variable that arises in the geopolitical environment.
While delivering remarks about the NATO 2030 agenda in February 2021, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated “We don’t just face one clear challenge, but multiple, complex challenges. From pandemics to infodemics, from climate change to disruptive technologies. And the lines between peace and war, civilian and military, state and non-state, are increasingly blurred.”
Responding to these predicaments, NATO Allied Command Transformation began exploring the viability of a technological capability which could assist decision making at the political-military level. Enhancing NATO’s capacity for what is referred to as “Political and Military Assisted Decision Making” embodies the command’s mission to improve the Alliance’s ability to better understand strategic challenges, make informed decisions more timely than adversaries, and be stronger together.
This new tool being created can refine data management functions, enhance situational awareness and understanding, and develop predictive analytical functions which enable users to create and test many potential courses of action. These options will then inform the political-military decision-making process in response to both acute and emergent crises in real-time.
The Political-Military Assisted Decision Making concept has been briefed to NATO’s Military Committee and the Permanent Representatives to NATO’s North Atlantic Council. These briefings have demonstrated how the Alliance can maintain its decisive advantage by conducting effective strategic assessments and early threat identification by developing comprehensive political and military response options using this new tool.
