A Question of Super-Empowerment
WikiLeaks, Media, and Policy:
A Question of Super-Empowerment
by Adam Elkus and Captain Crispin Burke
Download the Full Article: A Question of Super-Empowerment
Military operations have always been subjected to the effects of disruptive powers far beyond the control of the field commander. From the court intrigues of the past to today’s domestic catfights, politics has definitely never stopped at the water’s edge. Events such as the recent series of WikiLeaks scandals and Rolling Stone’s expose on General Stanley McChrystal are evolutionary, rather than revolutionary in nature.
Nevertheless, analysts and pundits have pointed out that modern information technology and media have allowed elements beyond the military’s direct control—so-called “super-empowered” individuals—greater opportunities to alter state policy through disruptive actions. However, neither WikiLeaks nor the McChrystal scandal significantly altered war policy. Momentary disruption, no matter how severe, does not matter if the basic policy remains unchanged. Both cases suggest that we ought to have a more tempered view of technology, individual influence, and change.
Download the Full Article: A Question of Super-Empowerment
Adam Elkus is an analyst specializing on foreign policy and security. He has published on defense issues in Small Wars Journal, West Point Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel, Defense Concepts, and other publications. He is currently the Associate Editor of Red Team Journal. He is currently pursuing graduate study at Georgetown in security studies.
Captain Crispin Burke is a UH-60 helicopter pilot with assignments in the 82nd Airborne Division during Hurricane Katrina, Joint Task Force-Bravo in Honduras, and the 10th Mountain Division in Iraq. He is currently an observer/controller at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany. He writes for Small Wars Journal and under the name “Starbuck at his blog, Wings Over Iraq.
