About Design... From Theory to Practice

Operational Design Center of Excellence (COE) From Theory to Practice was established in the summer of 2008 on the premise that organizations and institutions operating in a world of ever increasing complexity need a better way to understand and deal with complex problems. After months of thought and debate, the Center leadership determined that the principal objective should be to form a Community of Practice (COP) capable of spreading the cognitive application of theory to practice to organizations and institutions.

The COP charter is to support, educate and train leadership within organizations and institutions by specializing in the application of the theory of learning and the practice of design (From Theory to Practice) to midcareer and senior executives.

Decision makers, at all levels, face challenges of dealing with complex situations that are ill-defined and fluid because of the presence of numerous interactive and largely autonomous actors. These situations are characterized by constant change and variety that must be understood in order to provide realistic solutions to the problems and establish a desired set of conditions. Misinterpretation of the environment and applying an incorrect approach to solving the problem could result in undesirable consequences. When confronting these complex situations, the difference between success and failure is an in-depth understanding of the complex situation, correct identification of the problem to be resolved, and a clear design to achieve the desired results. These situations often require solutions from multiple partners and competitors in order to reach sound results.

Booz Allen can help you be ready for what’s next
Booz Allen Hamilton, as a leading strategy and technology consulting firm, recognizes the significance of understanding these complex situations and the requirement to design an approach that leads to the desired results. The Center for the Application of Design (CAD) was established to apply and teach the theory and methodology of learning that mitigates strategic crises by positioning operators to better address complex situations. The designer, the primary moderator who reconciles strategic potential with practical operations, is the learning intermediary who synthesizes the emerging world of the operator with the desired world of the strategist. The product is a formal expression of strategic purpose that provides the logical and irreducible framework for the structuring of operations and actions.

Our approach

Stages of Design

Design results

• Make explicit, orderly, and shared what is usually implicit, haphazard, and private
• Promote thinking in terms of interactive actors and their attitudes, agendas, programs of action, and relationships and tendencies, rather than structural component nodes and linkages
• Enables the creative, abductive cognitive process natural to key leaders and staff
• Improves on early and sufficient engagement of the “command team” to build a shared appreciation of the logic of the problem, formulation of the campaign design, and a discursive process for discussing the approach
• Enhances effective learning and adaptation,recognizing that our best efforts to understand will be frustrated. This means considering early the mechanisms for learning at multiple levels

Our team
The Booz Allen team employs a multidisciplinary approach that includes:

• Strategists
• Operational Artists
• Campaign Designers and Planners
• Organizational Designers
• Social, Cognitive, Cultural Psychologists
• Commanders and Senior Mentors
• Learning Administrators
• Modeling and Simulation Experts
  

Our design team applies a collaborative design methodology to create a learning system that allows the decision makers to create a framework and understanding of the strategic logic and context. Once developed, the design team creates a structure to gain a holistic appreciation of the situation in order to decide on a descriptive explanation and theory of action. After the develop of the theory of action, the team develops the design concept for intervention.

Our services
Our service offerings include:

• Conducting instructional sessions to provide understanding of design and its application, giving the client the opportunity to understand and evaluate design in order to use it subsequently to solve unstructured problems (or obtain our support in solving such problems)
• Providing direct support to a client to assist in understanding and/or solving unstructured problems
• Working for a client to understand and/or solve unstructured problems
• Assisting with research, development, and institutionalization of Design

Whether you’re managing today’s issues or looking beyond the horizon, count on us to help you be ready for what’s next.

Mike Steele, a retired US Army Lieutenant General, is the President, Osprey Bay, LLC, Defense Consulting Services located on Seabrook Island, SC.

Osprey Bay provides services related to doctrine, weapon systems, leader development, live and simulation-based training systems and support, Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C2ISR) and exercise development to the U.S. Armed Forces and allied nations.

General Steele retired as Commanding General, United States Army Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., after 34 years of active military service. He has a strong background in U.S. Army and Joint operations and training with extensive senior level command experience in operations, readiness, training, instrumentation, education and doctrine. Since retirement, he has worked as an executive in the defense industry, as a Senior Mentor to the Chief of Staff Army Strategic Leader Development Program for General Officers, a participant in Army and DOD annual war games focused on future requirements, and numerous efforts to improve domestic and international war-fighting capabilities and simulation-based training. He is a member of The Board of Visitors, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina; former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Uniformed Services Benefit Association - a veteran focused life insurance organization – now a board member; and, member of the Board of Trustees, U. S. Army Command and General Staff College Foundation, Inc.

General Steele has command and staff experience from platoon through Division and US Army Major Command. He served as the Commanding General, 82nd Airborne Division, and as the Commanding General, U.S. Army Pacific. He has extensive experience in the Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) at the U.S. Infantry School, Headquarters TRADOC and at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he served as Deputy Commandant and Commandant, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Joint assignments include Director of Operations, J-3 U.S. Atlantic Command and as Commanding General, US Army, Pacific. He is a Vietnam Ranger Battalion and Ranger Group combat veteran.

He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from The Citadel and a master's degree in management from Webster University. He is also a graduate of the National War College.

Alex Ryan is an Assistant Professor on the design faculty at the School of Advanced Military Studies. Alex Ryan has contributed to the writing of the draft Field Manual Interim 5-2 on Design. He lectures on Effective Thinking, a module within Design that covers critical and creative thinking, systems thinking, complex decision-making, complex systems, emergence and self-organization. Alex Ryan has nine years experience as a research scientist at the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation, where he was the Australian National Lead for TTCP Action Group 14 on Complex Adaptive Systems for Defence, and contributed to complex systems science, systems engineering, military experimentation, operations research, and computer wargaming. Alex Ryan received a PhD in complex systems design from the University of Adelaide in 2007, has Honours in Applied Mathematics from the University of Adelaide, and a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics and Computing) from Curtin University.

James J. Schneider is Professor Emeritus of Military Theory from the School of Advanced Military Studies, USACGSC at Ft. Leavenworth, where he taught for nearly a quarter of a century until his retirement in 2008. A recognized international expert in his field, Professor Schneider has taught and written extensively on military theory, having helped develop some of the key theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings to contemporary operational art for a whole new generation of military officers. Prior to his appointment to SAMS in 1984, Schneider spent four years as an operations research analyst with the TRADOC Analysis Center. He received his doctorate in Russian history at the University of Kansas in 1992. Dr. Schneider has written The Structure of Strategic Revolution, a book about total war and the rise of the Soviet warfare state. His current book-length project, Lawrence in Arabia—a Story of Leadership, will be published by Random House in mid-2010. Professor Schneider’s most recent work in military theory concerns the development of a series of historical, simulation-based practicums as a vehicle to integrate SOD with complex transformative decision-making. Having served as a tanker in Vietnam with the First Infantry Division Schneider is keenly aware that military theory must always go hand in hand with military practice.

Dr. Tim Challans has worked with Shimon Naveh since 2005, providing the philosophical academic background for the SAMS students who have demonstrated the value of Systemic Operational Design at UNIFIED QUEST. He has been in the classroom bringing theory to practice for over a dozen years as a professor in SAMS, CGSC, and at USMA, teaching philosophy, composition, and history. He graduated from West Point and has earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in philosophy from The Johns Hopkins University. He is a retired infantry officer with troop experience at Ft. Richardson, Ft. Drum, and Ft. Campbell. Tim has written an award-winning book that is an illustration of systemic operational design within a specific context, Awakening Warrior: Revolution in the Ethics of Warfare. Tim was also the principal author of the 1999 doctrinal manual FM 22-100 Army Leadership and has written an award-winning book that is an illustration of systemic operational design within a specific context, Awakening Warrior: Revolution in the Ethics of Warfare.

Dr. Richard Swain is currently with Booz Allen Hamilton in support of UNIFIED QUEST and the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) to explore Systemic Operational Design for the Army. Previously, he was Professor of Officership at the William E. Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic at West Point. Dr. Swain participated in developing concepts of operation for military forces in the post 2020 period and was Director of Fellows at SAMS where he taught courses in ethics, military history, and the history of military thought. He is a 1966 graduate of West Point and holds a doctorate from Duke University. Dr. Swain is one of the authors of The Armed Forces Officer and he is the author of Neither War Nor Not War: Army Command in Europe During the Time of Peace Operations. Tasks Confronting USAREUR Commanders, 1994-2000; “AirLand Battle,” Chapter 11 of CAMP COLT TO DESERT STORM; The History of US Armored Forces; “Filling the Void: Operational Art and the US Army," Chapter in The Operational Art: Developments in the Theories of War; and ‘Lucky War': Third Army in Desert Storm.

Huba Wass de Czege is the president of Wass de Czege Consulting and was a principal designer of the AirLand Battle operational concept in the 1982 FM 100-5, Operations, and revised it in 1986. He retired in 1993 as the Assistant Division Commander for Maneuver of the 1st Infantry Division. He also was the founder and first director of the US Army School for Advanced Military Studies. After retiring, Mr. Wass de Czege became involved in the Army After Next project and served on several Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency advisory panels. He is a 1964 graduate of the US Military Academy and holds an MPA from Harvard University. He advises the Joint Staff and Joint Forces Command on future joint operating concepts. Mr. Wass de Czege has authored numerous articles and is the author or co-author of several books, to include Conceptual Foundations Of A Transformed US Army; and Toward a Strategy of Positive Ends.

Dr. Shimon Naveh, a retired reserve brigadier general in the Israeli Defence Force was, until May 2006, the co-director of the Operational Theory Research Institute. While on active service, he served in every combat operation with the Israeli Defence Force after 1967. He culminated his service with the Israeli Defence Force as a Division Commander. After retirement from active service, Dr. Naveh received a PhD from Kings College in the United Kingdom. He served as a Lecturer in the Department of History at Tel Aviv University and a Senior Fellow of the Cummings Center for Russian and East European Studies. He is the author of two works, The Operational Art and In Pursuit of Military Excellence: The Evolution of Operational Theory.

LTG (R) William G. Carter served over 35 years in US Army and joint force assignments and has commanded at the company, battalion, brigade, and division levels. LTG(R) Carter has had extensive experience in training, transformation, and operations over the course of his military career. His last assignment was Chief of Staff, Allied Forces Southern Europe where he provided the strategic vision and leadership to focus a diverse multinational staff on planning, training, and problem solving. General Carter first planned and executed the training program used to prepare forces for Bosnia-Herzegovina, with major reliance on, and integration of, simulations as a training methodology. General Carter also served as the commanding general at the National Training Center between 1991 and 1993, where he provided vision on future Army training both in terms of live training operations and sophisticated simulations involving both air and ground operations. As the commanding general of the 1st Armored Division, he implemented more training programs and developed and implemented time-phased reshaping of the division, reducing size by one-third. This was in turn recognized as the model for downsizing in an operations organization. General Carter has been intimately involved in Army Transformation through his frequent participation in seminar wargames for the Unified Quest program.

George Webb is an Army brat. He graduated from West Point in 1972 and served 31 years on active duty in armor, aviation, and cavalry. Among other assignments, he commanded a tank company, an attack helicopter company, an aviation battalion, a regimental air cavalry squadron, and a training support brigade. His senior staff experience was Army aviation division chief and chief of deep operations in Korea on the Army, joint, combined, and ground component staffs. He holds a MMAS from the School of Advanced Military Studies and a Masters in National Security and Strategic Studies (with highest distinction) from the Naval War College. He was a SAMS seminar leader 1994-1995. Following military retirement, he served as the director of the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs. George and his family live in Topeka, KS.

Tom Bennett is a protégé of Shimon Naveh. He has been supporting the implementation and experimentation of Operational Design at the School of Advanced Military Studies and its incorporation in the Army’s annual UNIFIED QUEST wargame since 2007. He is a retired Army Special Forces Colonel and holds masters degrees in Advanced Military Studies and Strategic Studies. Based on his Special Forces background and working in ambiguous situations, he quickly understood the immense value of Systemic Operational Design when dealing with complex environments and has been assisting in its implementation at the United States Special Operations Command.

Rolly Dessert is a Senior Associate with Booz Allen with over thirty six years of professional experience, and ten years of experience in military and government modeling, simulation, wargaming, and analysis. He has been involved in Army and DoD transformation initiatives since 1994 beginning with the Army Experiment Prairie Warrior. Upon joining Booz Allen in 2003, Rolly took on a role in the Unified Quest program of leading the Integration and Analysis Team. This role also involves managing the initial stages of follow-on work such as the Theater Military Advisory and Assistance Group with the Combined Arms Center-Force Management Directorate, and Systemic Operational Design with the School of Advanced Military Studies Emerging Strategic Leader Program. Recently developed operational design workshops in support of USSOCOM and USARCENT. Program Manager for US Army / Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Mr. Davids brings extensive expertise in strategic and operational planning and thought leadership for shaping and refining the future Joint Force to his role as a member of the Operational Design Instruction Team. He has over nine years of experience supporting the Army’s Title 10 Wargame, Unified Quest and its associated supporting events. He recently served on the USAFRICOM planning staff where he was the primary author of the initial draft of the Regional War on Terrorism Campaign Plan. For Unified Quest 07, he helped write an analysis of Pacification in Algeria by David Galula. It included: an examination of his theory of counterinsurgent warfare, a summary of his Four Laws and comments on contemporary relevance. Additionally, he has 29 years of experience formulating strategy for leading and managing complex, culturally diverse organizations.

LTG (ret.) Don Holder retired from the U.S. Army in September 1997 from the post of Deputy TRADOC Commander for Training and Combined Arms Center and Commandant of the Command and General Staff College. He spent the next ten years supporting Army training with the BDM and Northrop Grumman corporations.

General Holder’s principal activities in recent years have been in supporting concept development for senior leaders of TRADOC, serving as an operational commander and senior observer in Joint and Army experiments, and in assisting in Army future force development. He is a member of the Battle Command Training Program’s six-man Senior Observer Group and also served as the senior mentor for the current edition of FM 3-0 and the new version of FM 5-0. He also teaches operational art in a variety of units and schools. In the spring of 2006 he held the Omar Bradley Chair of Strategic Leadership at the US Army War College and at Dickinson College, teaching courses in operational and enterprise leadership.

General Holder’s military career alternated between combat units and the training base. He commanded cavalry units from platoon to regimental levels and served as the commander of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division from 1993 to 1995. As a captain, he commanded a cavalry troop in combat in Vietnam. In his third assignment to the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment, General Holder commanded the Regiment through the final days of the Cold War as it continued to patrol the Iron Curtain along the Czech and East German frontiers. Deploying the unit to Saudi Arabia in the winter of 1990, he led VII Corps’ deployment for DESERT SHIELD and its main attack in DESERT STORM. The 2nd ACR distinguished itself as the only American unit to fight outnumbered against the Republican Guard.

As Commander of the 3d ID, General Holder deployed a brigade to Kuwait and supported UN peacekeeping operations in Croatia and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. His division training program accommodated missions as different as peacekeeping, NEO air assaults and standard heavy force operations. Under his command, 3rd ID designed and conducted the first U. S. Army training missions with the armies of Russia and Ukraine.

General Holder also served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Support at NATO’s Central Army Group. In that position, he assisted in the transition to the new command structure for land forces in NATO’s Central Region and in training allied forces for new post-Cold War missions.

In TRADOC assignments, he taught tactics, was an author of the 1982 and 1986 editions of FM 100-5, AirLand Battle, headed the School of Advanced Military Studies, and served as the TRADOC Deputy Commander for Combined Arms and Training. His papers on tactics and operational art influenced Army doctrine and training for a decade and won several awards including the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Award for Strategic Writing.

General Holder graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in history and holds a MA from Harvard University in European History. His decorations include two Distinguished Service Medals, the Bronze Star for Valor, the German Cross of Honor in Gold and the Russian Medal for Military Excellence. He is a member of the adjunct faculty of the US Army War College and a member of Texas A&M’s Cadet Corps Hall of Honor.

Jay Mroszczak, an associate with Booz Allen, has over 28 years of experience in National Defense and National Security-related programs. During his tenure as a U.S. Army officer, Jay served as a JTF, Corps and Division-level operational planner, and he served on the country team at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Jay has been involved in DoD and Army transformation initiatives since 1997, working as a combat developer for digital Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems, and participating in Army Advanced Warfighting Experiments (AWEs). Upon joining Booz Allen in 2005, Jay became a panel facilitator for the Army's Title 10 Wargame program, Unified Quest, where he became involved with an experiment to integrate "Operational Design" into the Army's approach to designing campaigns and planning major, joint, combined and coalition operations. Recently, Jay has become the Program Manager for teaching Operational Art and Campaign Design to graduate-level military students at the U.S. Army's School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Jay also coordinates and conducts internal workshops for furthering the development of an Operational Design Center of Excellence at the Leavenworth, Kansas Booz Allen office.

Dr. Vincent Staggs is a Senior Defense Analyst with Booz Allen Hamilton. He has a dual background in the social sciences (including social/personality psychology) and in mathematics/statistics. Prior to joining Booz Allen, Dr. Staggs worked in academia, where he accumulated 150 semester hours of college/university teaching experience. He holds an M.S. from Missouri State University, an M.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.

Dr. Staggs is an avid reader of history (especially U.S. and military history) and enjoys following world political, economic, demographic, and religious trends. Favorite authors include Winston Churchill, Shelby Foote, and Paul Johnson.

Ofra Graicer is a strategic consultant and entrepreneur, specializing in military systems. From 2000 to 2006 Ofra joined the IDF’s Operational Theory Research Institute, developing learning strategies in order to train IDF’s Senior Command echelons in design, planning and management of operations. Ofra’s field of expertise is operational maneuver, special operations and cultural intelligence. Her Ph.D., to be published by the end of 2009, deals with the development of Long Range Penetration Operations by Orde Wingate, and its application in various contexts. This will be the first mass publication of applied SOD in a contemporary context. Ofra currently consults the Israeli public and private, applying Systemic Operational Design to business development and policy making. In addition, she freelances as a publicist on security and current affairs in printed and electronic media. Was among the founders of the Israeli Academies for Leadership in the late 90s. Educated in Art and Film, Political Science, Security Studies and Operational Art. Served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a Snipers Officer, Infantry School. Born and raised in Tel Aviv, currently living with her family in Jerusalem.

Mr. Mayes, a Senior Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, has extensive experience in designing, planning, wargaming, and wargame analysis. He has over 35 years of professional experience in military operations, including assignments at the Unified and COCOM level which focused on Combined and Joint Operations, strategic and operational planning, and operational and tactical execution.

Mr. Mayes leads the Booz Allen Center for the Application of Design and manages the design teaching team at Leavenworth, KS, and coordinates the Application of Design support for other geographical locations. He is the Program Manager and oversees Booz Allen’s extensive support to the Unified Quest wargames and associated analysis and activities.

Most recently, Mr Mayes has focused on the development of the Center for Application of Design, which includes a “Community of Practice” for the continued development of design, the Booz Allen service offerings, and the development of curriculums and courseware to teach the design methodology.

Since 1998, Mr. Mayes has been a key designer and developer of the Army After Next (AAN), Army Transformation (ATWG) and Unified Quest (UQ) series of Title 10 wargames and their associated workshops, seminars, and supporting wargames. These workshops, seminars, and wargames have spanned the strategic to operational to tactical levels, looking at US Army, US Air Force (USAF), other Service, Joint and potential adversary future concepts and capabilities. The AAN, ATWG and UQ series of events have spanned the time frames of 2015 out to 2025 and have ranged in size, from 200 to 700 participants in large multi-level policy and military operations wargames. Participants have included the Army Chief-of-Staff; senior military and civilian Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and allied leaders, Unified Command Combatant Commanders, as well as senior members of the Department of Defense, Interagency and Diplomatic communities. These Title 10 wargames have looked at future forces, force capabilities, technologies, and concepts of operations to deal with potential major competitors, as well as non-traditional threat adversaries such as those now faced in the war on terrorism. These games have spanned the spectrum of conflict, from humanitarian and relief operations to multiple irregular challenges to overlapping major regional conflicts to homeland defense. The ATWG and UQ series of workshops, seminars, and wargames have helped define, shape, and refine the future Army’s Objective, Future and Modular Force concepts, capabilities, and requirements.

As a Project Manager, Mr. Mayes has controlled multi-million dollar projects and supervised staffs from 20 – 75 personnel in project execution. He has served in all capacities and levels associated with seminar wargaming. These include wargame design, scenario development, plan development, assessment, and integration and analysis of wargame results.

Before retiring from the Army, Mr. Mayes served as the Chief of Staff of an Army Division, the Operations Officer on the COCOM staff in a Combined and Joint environment in Korea. Mr Mayes planned and executed COCOM level combined and joint operations from the strategic to the tactical level. Additionally, he was responsible for a multitude of exercises where he directed the development, planning, and execution of wargames and simulations, as well as real world deployments and exercises for the COCOM Commander.

Andrew Davids is an Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton and has been a part of the Operational Design instructional team for four years. His involvement began by supporting an experiment to integrate "Operational Design" into the Army's approach to designing campaigns and planning major, joint, combined and coalition operations in Unified Quest 2005. Andrew is a member of the instructional team that debuts Operational Design to new clients. These clients have included US Army Central Command (ARCENT) at Ft. McPherson, GA, US Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, FL, and US Army Pacific Command (ARPAC) in Honolulu, HI. The skill set that Mr. Davids brings to the team predominately deals with a mind mapping software tool that is used to document and illustrate the cognitive journey participants in training workshops take as they transition from their understanding of the 'current system' to the articulation of the desired system and then on to developing the operations frame - or the "methodology of the logic". The use of this tool contributes to the success of training workshops and Mr. Davids is responsible for ensuring all rapporteurs supporting Operational Design are able to effectively use the tool in support of training events for our clients.

Mr. Davids is currently a holder of the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute and has been a PMP in good standing since December 2004. He supports Booz Allen MSW&A efforts for our clients including the Army's annual Title 10 wargame, the Capstone Concept for Joint Operations Experiment, and US Army Africa Command (AFRICOM) first component command Table Top exercise to prepare for standup on 1 October 2008.

Richard “Rick” Ricklefs is an Associate on the Booz Allen Hamilton, Defense Modeling, Simulation, Wargaming, and Analysis (MSWA) Team. He is a success oriented, proven leader and team builder, expanding MSWA activities to Europe and Africa and frequently operates with minimal guidance in challenging environments. He is adept at building relationships in military and civilian organizations, at all levels of government and industry. Executive leadership experience in strategic and operational design, planning and deep-future oriented strategic thought, based on rigorous analysis and understanding of organizations and processes that maximize efficiency and effectiveness, to help organizations stretch to their full potential.

As the project lead for the Capstone Concept for Joint Operations (CCJO) Experiment for Joint Forces Command Mr. Ricklefs The experiment tested the conceptual sufficiency of the CCJO and identified implications for the future joint force.

Mr. Ricklefs was a lead planner at USAFRICOM, the latest Combatant Command in the Department of Defense. As a part of the Plans Division (J5 equivalent) in this interagency-focused command he was the primary author of both the operations order for operations in the Horn of Africa and the Pandemic Influenza plan for USAFRICOM. As a member of the Strategy Development Working Group, he supported the development of the USAFRICOM Theater Strategy and Theater Campaign Plan.

As the site manager at Future Warfare Division, Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, VA, Rick was involved in wargame design, development, and execution support for major experiments and exercises in support of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command, including the Army’s Unified Quest series of wargames.

A former Intelligence and Foreign Area Officer, Mr. Ricklefs has extensive experience in wargaming, with over 31 years of professional experience in military planning, operations, strategic and tactical intelligence, arms control, political-military analysis, advanced communications systems, peace operations with the United Nations, strategic level homeland security, physical, information and special security (SSO), professional instruction, continuity operations, and space operations.

Lieutenant General Van Riper retired from the United States Marine Corps on 1 October 1997, after more than 41 years of commissioned and enlisted service. He currently resides in Williamsburg, Virginia. He graduated in June 1963, from California State College, California, Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He is also a graduate of the Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School, the Navy College of Command and Staff, and the Army War College. Since retirement Lieutenant General Van Riper has served at various times as a member of several defense and service advisory boards and panels, including: the National Defense University Board of Visitors; the National Research Council’s Naval Studies Board; the Army Science Board; the Institute for Defense Analyses’ Joint Advanced Warfighting Program; and the National Reconnaissance Office’s Operational Support Office. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.

Lieutenant General Van Riper continues to participate in an array of defense and security related war games, seminars and conferences, both in the United States and overseas, and he lectures frequently at professional military education institutions. He also consults part time for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and a number of commercial firms on defense and operational matters.

A student of military history, Lieutenant General Van Riper spends his leisure hours reading and visiting battlefields. In addition, he writes for pleasure and publication.

A Distinguished Military Graduate of the University of Texas, Major General Raymond D. Barrett, Jr. was commissioned in the Infantry in 1972. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Business Administration degree in Management from the University of Dayton, and Master of Arts degree in military history from the Army Command and General Staff College. His military schooling includes Airborne, Air Assault, and Ranger schools, as well as the US Army Command and General Staff College, School of Advanced Military Studies and Army War College.

Major General Barrett commanded the 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment with the 24th Infantry Division during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. His numerous command and staff positions since then include commanding the 2d Brigade, 2d Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea, and Chief of Staff of the 24th Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. As a general officer he served as the Deputy Director for Operations, Headquarters US Pacific Command at Camp Smith, Hawaii and Assistant Division Commander, 2d Infantry Division, again in the Republic of Korea. Major General Barrett was appointed 31st Commanding General of the United States Army Training Center and Fort Jackson, SC where he was responsible for the basic military training of over 110,000 new Soldiers. Prior to his retirement in 2004 he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Training at the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command responsible for overseeing Army-wide training, leadership development and education as well as the accompanying doctrine, requirements and policy.

Upon his retirement from the Army in 2004, Major General Barrett joined HNTB Corporation, an international Engineering, Architecture and Planning firm, as Vice President. With HNTB he was involved in strategic planning, leadership development and federal business development. In 2009 he founded The Barrett Group providing consulting services in management, organizational design, restructuring, strategic planning, training, and leadership development. Currently he is the Chief Operating Officer for the COL Arthur Simons Center for the Study of Interagency Cooperation, a private research center supporting the US Army Command and General Staff College.

Active in the community, he is a Trustee of the Command and General Staff College Foundation and holds membership in the local chapters of Business Executives for National Security, Association of the United States Army, People to People International and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Mr. Wilmer, a Senior Associate at Booz Allen, has 28 years of professional experience as a leader, manager, and analyst in the defense and national security sectors. Mr. Wilmer has broad experience throughout the Department of Defense as well as with other federal agencies applying a full range of wargaming, analysis, and design techniques to assisting government leaders in examining complex problems and making sound decisions. As the lead for the DC office of Booz Allen’s Center for the Application of Design, Mr. Wilmer provides design, wargaming, experimentation, model & simulation, and analysis support to clients across the Military Services, the Joint Staff, the Combatant Commands, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. An experienced leader skilled at planning, directing, and executing complex programs of diverse projects, he is expert at building effective teams and mentoring subordinates to higher levels of performance. Comfortable establishing a rapport with and advising senior government officials, Mr. Wilmer is also a dynamic public speaker and published author.

Before joining Booz Allen, Mr. Wilmer culminated 26 years of military service as the Chief of Studies and Analysis for the U.S. Army Capabilities Integration Center. In addition to a breadth of operational assignments, his experience as a military Operations Research Analyst covers a full range of analytic tools and techniques. He has managed a research study program; developed and executed strategy and policy wargames; developed decision support tools using advanced computing techniques; planned and executed warfighting experiments; overseen the development and configuration control of computer models and model federations; and has a thorough working knowledge of the tools and techniques necessary to support capability development, acquisition processes, and strategic and operational planning.

Commissioned in the Infantry, MG (R) Waldo Freeman served in the Army over 32 years, more than half of it overseas, including two combat tours in Vietnam. His career included a wide variety of challenges that cause him to appreciate the value of design. He taught international relations and economics at West Point, twice was an advisor to foreign forces, served twice on the Joint Staff working Europe/NATO policy issues, and twice at SHAPE headquarters working policy and programs. During the second SHAPE experience, he directed the staff element that developed the military input to a new NATO strategy following the collapse of the USSR. Then he was at CENTCOM during all four phases of the Somalia intervention, each of which required a novel operational approach. His final assignment was as Commanding General US Army Japan and IX Corps (later 9th TAACOM).

Soon after retiring, MG Freeman became an adjunct research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses, a federally funded non-profit think tank in Alexandria, VA. There he contributed to numerous studies for the DoD. Among these, he led the last four years of a six-year study on improving the adaptability of US military forces and institutions. He co-authored four research reports on improving adaptability throughout DoD. This study led him first to the Army and then to the CAD work on operational design.

He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and holds an MA from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advance International Studies. His highest military education was at the National War College.

Mr. Hamby, a Principal with Booz Allen Hamilton, has extensive experience in wargaming, wargame automation architecture, international relations, and irregular warfare. He has over 40 years of professional experience in military operations, intelligence, physical and information security, computer security, professional instruction, public information management, peace operations, psychological operations, societal and political development, nation assistance, and related activities.

Mr. Hamby leads Booz Allen’s Modeling, Simulation, Wargaming, and Analysis (MSW&A) team at Leavenworth, KS, and coordinates MSW&A support to U.S. Army TRADOC. He oversees Booz Allen’s extensive support to the Unified Quest wargames and associated analysis and activities and the Firm’s Operations Research-based support to the U.S. Army TRADOC Analysis Center.

Mr. Hamby developed the concept for the Integrated Gaming System (IGS), a comprehensive wargaming architecture that provides an integrated set of wargaming tools designed to support a wide range of gaming efforts. He continues to lead an effort to advance the art of wargaming and the development of IGS including its application to a broader set of gaming, exercise, and analysis opportunities. He supported the U.S. Army War College in development of the Analysis and Gaming Information System (AGIS), their Strategic Crisis Exercise, and various other Peace Operations and Irregular Warfare related activities, and the U.S. Atlantic Command in development of a Peace Operations Training Package.

Mr. Hamby is a member of the Military Operations Research Society. He has authored numerous articles and chapters, including "A Realignment of US Army Doctrine," (LIC and Modern Technology, Lt. Col. David J. Dean (ed), Maxwell Air Force Base: Air University Press, 1986).

He is co-author, editor, or principal contributor to Regional Stability Assessment: Identifying Threats, Addressing Risk & Planning Strategies, a Booz-Allen View Point; US Army FC 100-20, Low Intensity Conflict; TRADOC Pam 525-44, Low Intensity Conflict; Joint Low Intensity Conflict Project Final Report; and Operation Urgent Fury Assessment.

He has authored/presented and co-authored Irregular Warfare-related presentations to the Military Operations Research Society.