Self-Synchronization, the Future Joint Force and the United States Army's Objective Force

Self-synchronization is an idea that comes directly from Network-Centric Warfare but its foundations lie in complexity theory and the ideas of self-organization and emergent behavior. In order to understand self-synchronization the basics of complexity theory, specifically self-organization and emergent behavior, must be explained. Then, by expanding on the accepted definition of self-synchronization as defined by Admiral Cebrowski in his early literature on NCW it is clear that self-synchronization is a combination of complexity theory's ideas of self-organization and emergent behavior and information technology. Next, by comparing the requirements and conditions of self-synchronization against the conditions and requirements of JOW's Adaptive Command and Objective Force Battle Command it can be determined if the conditions and requirements exist in future Joint and Army command and control concepts to allow self-synchronization. From this comparison it is clear that self-synchronization (self-coordination in the 2003 Defense Transformation Guidance) is a feasible concept for future Joint and Army forces. In fact, current doctrine supports the ideas behind self-synchronization and current Objective Force experiments demonstrate self-synchronizing behavior.