May 7,
2008: The U.S. military has long been
keen on adapting business innovations for battlefield use. One of the more
recent examples is the formation of Human Terrain Teams to map the attitudes,
values and power structure of Afghanistan (or at least parts of it) and Iraq.
The U.S. Department of Defense is spending about $150 million this year on the
Human Terrain Teams, which basically use anthropologists and other social
scientists, to develop maps of the local population showing attitudes and
loyalties. This is pretty standard stuff for marketing researchers. Want to put
a new fast food outlet somewhere? Call in the market research experts to build
and study maps showing who (in terms of what they eat and where they prefer to
eat it) live, and what food outlets are already there. The military
applications are more concerned with identifying the "opinion leaders." This is
another marketing innovation, based on the idea that it's more effective to
pitch the few people who most influence everyone else, than it is to try and
reach everyone with your message.
The Human
Terrain Teams (of 5-8 people) usually contain one person who speaks the local
language, and that enables commanders to get a briefing from someone who is
just a bit closer to the locals. Some of the teams have military reservists (who
also have the necessary academic or professional credentials), but are from
universities. This has caused some static in academia, where working for the
Department of Defense is frowned upon. But these same academics often work for
commercial firms, doing the same work, and many of them see no difference.
Others are attracted by patriotic attitudes, or simply a rare opportunity to do
research in a war zone. That experience can provide material for articles, or
even books.
