Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance

Shock and awe, technically known as rapid dominance, is a military doctrine based on the use of power overwhelming, dominant battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force to paralyze an adversary's perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight. The doctrine was written by Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade and is a product of the National Defense University of the United States in 1996.Introducing the doctrine in a report to the United States' National Defense University in 1996, Ullman and Wade describe it as an attempt to develop a post-Cold War military doctrine for the United States. Rapid dominance and shock and awe, they write, may become a "revolutionary change" as the United States military is reduced in size and information technology is increasingly integrated into warfare. Subsequent U.S. military authors have written that rapid dominance exploits the "superior technology, precision engagement, and information dominance" of the United States. (Quote from wikipedia.org)About the AuthorHarlan K. Ullman (1941 - Present)Harlan K. Ullman (born March 15, 1941), is a political author, commentator, and a retired United States Naval Commander. He is an advisor to government and the private sector and is active in transformation both of business and the Department of Defense. Ullman is known as a developer of the doctrine of Shock and Awe.