Measures of Effectiveness for the Information-age Army

The 1990s have witnessed the beginning of what future historians may call the Information Age. While it is clear that information will have a far-reaching effect on a host of activities–including warfare–how to quantify and measure that effect is less clear. The understanding of how to do so is important to the Army, particularly at a time when it is spencing a considerable amount of its scarce investment capital to establish Information-Age links across its forces–the so-called digitization of the Army. As it transforms itself, the Army needs analytic tools to help make the best choices possible. Chief among these tools are good measures of effectiveness (MOEs) that can demonstrate the value of information in terms of military outcomes. This document reports on a small set of Information-Age MOEs developed in an attempt to spark the creation of many more such measures. This research demonstrates that development of MOEs is feasible, not only for combat operations but for stability operations as well.