Management Scientist

I want to take the original post into more detail as I personally have worked with and within the US Army and appreciate the evolution of operations research from its origins. So naturally, the next question that I asked myself after answering the first one was, “What the heck were those guys researching back then?”

The following information is what I’ve gleamed from various sources describing British O.R….

Ok, the use of operations research in WWII involved intelligence, transportation, and supply.

Intelligence

Intelligence operations became a process whereby both the government and military collected and evaluated information for the purpose of discovering the intentions of their rivals, protecting themselves from their rivals and also exploting the weaknesses of those rivals.

They broke intel operations into two types:

1. Strategic or National Intel
2. Military Intel

#1 encompassed political, national security, greater economic, and social trends in the target nations.

#2 was gathered by specially trained analysts around data involving the enemy’s strengths, weapons technology, and estimated military capabilities.

So collection of intel was done through human intelligence, signal collection, and photography. Human intelligence was through the use of spies. Signal intel involved tapping phone lines and monitoring/decoding radio signals.

The intel collected needed to be evaluated for use. They combined the raw intel with relevant data in order to make it actionable.

So we’re talking about UK intel organizations here. The United States didnt have an organization until after Pearl Harbor.

Actionable Objectives

Anyways, several objectives were involved in the research. They were about conducting offensive operations, maintaining security, preserving unity of command, conducting surprise, and being able carry out maneuvers.

For example, the operations research questions for the D Day Invasion were:

1. How can we have a surprise attack at the least cost?
2. Where do we invade?
3. How do we invade?
4. How do we supply troops?

Let’s dive into each of these 4 questions in the next posts.