Shock and Awe – just in case you wondered

The "Shock and Awe" concept was originally articulated in 1996 in an obscure Pentagon publication by Harlan K. Ullman, a Naval veteran and prolific author, and James Wade, a former Pentagon planner. In consultation with a team of six former military officers, Ullman and Wade sought to develop ways for the U.S. armed forces to achieve "rapid dominance" over any battlefield foe.



Their idea was go beyond traditional doctrines of "decisive force" and find a way for the United States to prevail more quickly over enemies with inferior firepower while avoiding the civilian and military casualties that could undermine political support.



While "Shock and Awe" is out of print, it is available online in the publications section of the Web site of the Pentagon's Command and Control Research Program.



In perhaps the most controversial passage of their 106-page text, Ullman and Wade wrote,



"Theoretically, the magnitude of Shock and Awe Rapid Dominance seeks to impose (in extreme cases) ... the non-nuclear equivalent of the impact that the atomic weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on the Japanese. The Japanese were prepared for suicidal resistance until both nuclear bombs were used. The impact of those weapons was sufficient to transform both the mindset of the average Japanese citizen and the outlook of the leadership through this condition of Shock and Awe. The Japanese simply could not comprehend the destructive power carried by a single airplane. This incomprehension produced a state of awe."