ABSTRACT
For the purposes of this chapter, 'supreme command' is defined as the cluster of civilian and military authority at the pinnacle of defense organization - the level of defense and prime ministers, presidents and secretaries of war on the civilian side, chiefs of staff or their equivalent on the military side. Historians have dissected supreme command in many wars , and political scientists as well as practitioners have examined the subject in practice ; it remains a lively and important subject to the present day. 1 But the technology of supreme command rarely receives much attention, save perhaps in the literature on nuclear command and control, where the urgency of preventing unauthorized use of weapons of mass destruction elicited extended discussion. This is unfortunate, because technology does indeed play an important role in shaping the kinds of interactions that occur between political leaders and their military subordinates, and between the highest level of military organization and commanders in the field. This chapter attempts to remedy that deficiency by sketching three broad developments and their implications: the advent of real-time communication between capital and the field; the information glut; and the vulnerability of supreme command to direct attack.
