MORS 2001-2002:  “Focus on the Decision Maker”

Dr Thomas L. Allen, Institute for Defense Analysis, tallen@ida.org

 

This year has raced by all too quickly.  It seems like only yesterday Roy Rice was stepping down after assuring us one last time that it was a great day to be in MORS.  His admonition has continued to echo through the Society making each of the past 365 days great for me as well.  I’ve been blessed with an exceptional Executive Council who kept me on track and provided the leadership to keep the Society healthy in every respect.  They were supported by an active Board of Directors who never hesitated to take on new challenges while ensuring the best interests of the MORS were served in each of our many venues.  Finally, we have continued to be blessed by the finest office staff of any professional society in America.  Brian Engler, Natalie Kelly, Cynthia Kee, Corrina Ross-Witkowski and Jarvey Nelson made my job easy while responding to your needs and requests throughout the year.

 

Meetings.  The efforts of the Board and Staff combined with those of the many organizing and governing committees to ensure another banner year for MORS.  Special meetings refocused the community on the study of urban operations, shed new light on effects based operations, provided practical solutions to enduring space issues, and provided new understanding for the analysis of information operations.  April’s Education Colloquium offered a forum for new initiatives to improve the reach and impact of MORS in the professional development of military analysts.  June will see an outstanding MORS Symposium focused on analysis at the next frontier — a frontier that includes the analyses of terrorism and homeland security.  The symposium also will see the continuing evolution of our annual gathering to include a new feature designed to benefit our Sponsors and members — the addition of a government job fair.

 

Office Move.  2001-2002 saw a major improvement in the location of the MORS office.  Concern about increasing crime, the age and lack of repair to the old facility, and the deficiency in contiguous space to store our many documents and holdings made this an absolute necessity.  Not only were we able to escape a facility that, frankly, had long since lost its luster, but it also allowed us to move closer to the Pentagon and our Sponsors.  While the costs are higher, they are still among the lowest for office space in this area and include expanded meeting space to facilitate our many activities.  The benefit is already paying off in improved access and the smiles of our office staff.  If you haven’t had a chance to see the new facility, plan to stop by 1703 North Beauregard Street, Suite 450 in Alexandria (just around the corner from the IDA and CNA buildings off Seminary Road and I-395) on your next trip to Washington. 

 

Other Initiatives.  We’ve made progress in other areas as well.  Our first student chapter at West Point is completing its inaugural year and other student chapters are starting to spin up.  We’ve worked with the international community to find appropriate ways for MORS to engage that group to benefit our membership while protecting the value-added of our classified venues.  And we’ve continued to look for new ways to maintain and expand our membership to include other elements of the national security community.

 

Volunteers.  None of this would have been possible without strong support from our Sponsors and from you, the members of the Society.  We are a community of volunteers that can go only as far as you are willing to take us.  This year your contributions have been truly magnificent.  I looked at the names of all those involved in our special meeting organizing committees, our symposium organizations, our working group structure, our governing committees, as well as those involved in our many ongoing initiatives and counted well over 300 names.  To each of you I extend a heart-felt thank you.  And to the rest of our members, I invite you to join any of these activities to help provide MORS the leadership we’ll need in the years to come.  I am sure that Ted Smyth, your new president, and the new Council and Board will welcome your ideas and efforts to improve our profession and your Society.

 

Focus on the Decision Maker.  I have tried to use my term as President, not only to keep the Society moving forward, but also to encourage decision makers to make better use of their analysts.  In recent months I’ve heard that some analysts are falling short of decision makers’ expectations.  Criticisms include concern that some analytic products look more like a sales brochure than a study result and that some presenters seemed to lack a depth of knowledge in their subject material.  This may be a result of analysts attempting to provide increasingly comprehensive material in simplified formats in an ever-decreasing turn-time.  The problem here is that even with new tools, new sciences, and new methodologies, there can be no replacement for real data in the hands of a knowledgeable analyst.  Gathering these data and creating knowledgeable analysts takes time.  In the best of worlds, the analyst will already have collected the information and gained new insights before the questions are asked, which facilitates the fast and accurate reply.  In many areas, however, the data may not be available and the hard thinking has yet to be accomplished.  In those cases, a good analyst will still try to help, but needs to ensure the decision makers understand fully the limitations of the process.  We should never be afraid to express what we know but we should always provide the caveats that allow the decision maker to weigh our inputs properly.

 

We can avoid mistakes by listening carefully to the questions posed by the decision maker.  Our response should be first to answer the question that the decision maker asked and to follow that, if appropriate, by answering the question that should have been asked.  If we do only the former, we deprive the decision maker of full insight into a topic.  If we do only the latter, we’ll convince the decision maker we weren’t listening and instead are trying to sell a solution.  By doing both, we show we’re responsive to the decision maker’s needs AND that we have a depth of knowledge that can help the decision maker sort through the issues.  We analysts should never limit our inputs to what the decision makers want to hear; our job is to tell the decision makers what they need to hear.  Doing so will ensure that we truly have focused on the decision maker.