On Operations Quotes

“No military organization can exist without bureaucracy, as distasteful as it may be, and no professional organization should tolerate inefficient administration of bureaucratic requirements. As mentioned above, such problems deplete morale and are a true risk to the operational effectiveness of a command.”
― B.A. Friedman, On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines

“At the height of the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), France found itself bankrupt, unable to rely on mercenaries and proxy forces, and in possession of a corrupt and moribund army. The government solved this problem through the creation of a modern civil service to administer the army, organize and regulate it, and better support it through regular management and logistics. The result, by the end of the seventeenth century, was the most powerful, professional, and advanced military in Europe.”
― B.A. Friedman, On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines

“Intelligence is not just information--it is information that has been acquired, processed, and analyzed based on its relevance for the commander, the staff, or the mission.”
― B.A. Friedman, On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines

“Information warfare consists of everything a military force does to accurately sense and make sense of its interactions with its environment and enemy forces, preserve its ability to do so, and prevent the enemy from doing the same.”
― B.A. Friedman, On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines

“General staff officer candidates were chosen from the regular army's officer corps to take a rigorous examination. If they passed, they were then sent to the academy system for years of educational studies. If they passed that, they were then full general-staff officers and assigned and administered not by the regular army, but by the general staff itself.”
― B.A. Friedman, On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines

“Prior to the advent of military staffs, armies and navies made military decisions via councils of war, in which the commander would assemble his major subordinates, solicit and pitch courses of action, and seek a consensus on which one to pursue. Napoleon eschewed such meetings once he had enough rank to forego them, calling them "a cowardly proceeding" intended more to shift blame than to determine an effective plan.”
― B.A. Friedman, On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines

“Operational art is what military staffs do to support tactics and strategy.”
― B.A. Friedman, On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines