About this podcast
The Command and Control podcast breaks new ground in taking an independent and pragmatic look at what military command and control might look like for the fight tonight and the fight tomorrow. Join us as we talk through C2 for an era of high-end war fighting. The hypothesis is this: command is human, control has become more technological pronounced. As a result, the increasing availability of dynamic control measures is centralising control away from local command. It is a noticeable trend in Western C2 since the late 1980s. Over that time, blending human decision and cutting edge technology has been evolutionary but not deliberate: how will this change? Will it become dominated by a tendency to hoard power in those with the most computing power, might these factors serve to amplify the role of commanders? Given all the hyperbole about AI in C2 (and we will tackle some of that with AI experts), it's a conversation we need to have.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 51 episodes
- The Future of US Cyber C2 · 45 min · Season 6 Episode 5Cyber operations do not adhere to geographic boundaries. How, then, does C2 function for the US military when it remains governed by the structures imposed by Goldwater Nichols?…
- AI in C2: The Alignment Problem · 57 min · Season 8 Episode 1The AI alignment problem is the challenge of ensuring that artifical intelligence systems persue human goals, intentions, and ethical values rather than acting on…
- Ancient Generalship · 31 min · Season 5 Episode 27There is more useful knowledge on command from the ancients than we know what to do with. Dr Charles Vandepeer from Charles Sturt University in Australia poses a series of…
- C2 Outside the Human Comfort Zone? · 38 min · Season 5 Episode 26There is a tension between modern trend in centralising C2 (to govern the best use of resources) versus the now largely historical reliance on 'mission command'. Solutions are…
- The Future of US National Guard C2 · 36 min · Season 6 Episode 4The US National Guard is closely tied to the C2 transformation programmes of the US Army; as their strategic and operational reserve there is no alternative. Yet the other…
- C2 and Lawfare · 33 min · Season 5 Episode 25No commander would deny that military actions are governed by both behaviours, policy and law yet there is considerably more emphasis placed in rules of engagement, release…
- The Future of US Battlefield Medicine · 41 min · Season 6 Episode 3Battlefield medicine is as much an enabler and force multiplier as good logistics. Whilst this is acknowledged by many, including those in the US Army, there is a peculiar…
- The Future of US Navy C2 · 43 min · Season 6 Episode 2The US Navy is undergoing some seismic changes in terms of C2. Not only is the concept of how they fight changing (from Fleet command to fight from the MOC), but also in changing…
- Conspiracies of Optimism · 45 min · Season 5 Episode 24President Eisenhower was notable in expressing his frustration at his civilian staff's unwillingness to challenge or disagree with him face to face. That practice, of being…
- The Future of US Army C2 · 43 min · Season 6 Episode 1A fresh mini-series on command and control that looks at the future of C2 for each of the US fighting arms. This episodes kicks off the deep dive with a look at what the US Army…
- C2 and the Northern Navies Initiative · 41 min · Season 5 Episode 23Ten Baltic and Scandinavian (and the UK) have agreed to come together to form a multi-national maritime force for crisis response around Northern Europe, specifically on the…
- Promethean Shame · 40 min · Season 5 Episode 22There is a tendency (particularly in militaries) to view machines as less fallible than humans. The rapid and passionate adoption and use of AI tools in military headquarters is…
- AI and Wingman · 48 min · Season 5 Episode 21The rise of Agentic agents in military headquarters is a foregone conclusion. Understanding how they perform, where they may hallucinate answers, and their requirement for…
- Russian Reflexive Control · 40 min · Season 5 Episode 20Russia has become adept at directing the attention of its adversaries by triggering national security responses to small, sometimes insignificant activities, distracting Western…
- A city paralysed by cyber-attack: Civil C2 made real · 37 min · Season 5 Episode 19In 2019, the Dutch municipality of Lochem was hit with a major cyber-attack that impacted everything from welfare payments to the sewage system. The mayor at the time –…
- C2 - the long view (with Michael Holm) · 1 h 14 min · Season 6 Episode 1It is rare to find anyone who has been actively engaged in C2 over a 20 year time span, let alone 40. For nearly half a century Michael Holm has been making C2 systems for the…
- Manoeuvre and the network: C2 at XXX and Below · 40 min · Season 5 Episode 16If the role of the Corps level is in setting the conditions for Divisions to win, how are Divisions and subordinate commands going to conduct their own battle (and command it)?…
- Amphibious Complexity: C2 in the AAF · 31 min · Season 5 Episode 15If Europeans have been swiftly divesting themselves of real amphibious capability, the reverse has been true of the ADF in recent years. Ray Leggatt, the first true Commander…
- Goldwater Nichols: Still fit for purpose? · 33 min · Season 3 Episode 14Most people in the C2 world who would acknowledge the Goldwater Nichols reforms of the US military as one of the big muscle movements in command and control over the last 75…
- The Unfair Fight (HQ Corps job) · 43 min · Season 3 Episode 13It is the responsibility of the Corps level of command to set the conditions for a favourable and unfair fight at the tactical level: so says Major General Mike Keating, Chief of…
