Applications of Anthropology: An Exotic Input to the Defence and Security Community
Dr Mils Hills, The Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence
Social Anthropology is not a conventional
qualification for those seeking to conduct research in the defence and security
community. In fact, 'social scientists' in this domain are usually understood
to be psychologists, and then not even social psychologists. Happily, my entry
into the defence and security community some four years ago coincided with an
upsurge of interest in understanding cultures and social change. Similarly,
the awareness of the importance of the perception of military and diplomatic
activities to mission effectiveness is now widely accepted and requires leading-edge
research. Less happily, social scientists such as myself have had to persuade
colleagues from the 'hard' sciences that there are few easy answers in terms
of understanding others or predicting their behaviour.
The most notable skill I think Social Anthropology has permitted me to achieve
is a 'tool box' approach to problem solving. In delivering this, I have drawn
on my training:
· To ensure that my work is both creative and innovative
· To be comfortable with theories drawn from a number of disciplines
· To be attuned to expectations from customers and stakeholders
· To seek metaphors and analogies to translate my concepts to colleagues
from the 'hard' sciences
· To identify patterns and discontinuities from large bodies of data
at speed
· To exploit empathetic understanding of human behaviour
The more tricky transition from academic work to 'real-world application' has
been in ensuring that the output of work is practical. In essence, this means
that - having deployed my battery of ideas and concepts (an activity which may
well not be visible, even in an Annex, of the final delivered product) - my
Conclusions and Recommendations must be practical. Increasingly, this has led
to me drawing on management consultancy approaches to visualising and summarising
research findings and even to the development of bespoke software tools for
visualisation and hypothesis exploration.
I suppose the strangest aspect of my work now is that I don't actually 'do'
any anthropology - as many would see it. I do no fieldwork (other than occasional
informal interviewing or focus group type work) and don't interface with many
colleagues in the wider academic community: other than in reviewing bids. This
is mainly to do with the fact that there is little extant research / publication
in the fields in which I am chiefly interested. Consequently, it is my task
to weave between extant work and my own (evolving) sets of concepts - the tool-box.
The output is distinctive, and I hope authoritative and plausible. In my defence,
I should add that I have worked with and recruited others with similar approaches
that were not trained as anthropologists, so I'm not entirely ploughing a lone
furrow. Some of my recent publications / presentations perhaps give a flavour
of the diverse areas of concern I've been involved with:
Command Post Infrastructure: Equipping the decision-maker (with R Holloway)
Command Post of the Future II: Future Command HQ, The Hatton, London, 20th November
2002.
Info Ops, Asymmetry & Learning: Some Practical Concepts to Address the Challenge Information Operations Course, RAF Chicksands, 18 October 2002
Competing the particular dreads of chemicals National Focus for Chemical Incidents, Cardiff 3rd October 2002
The Formal and Informal Management of Diversity in Mauritius Social Identities, Volume 8, No. 2, June 2002
Competing to Control the Media in an Age of Asymmetric Warfare (with Rachel Holloway) Jane's Intelligence Review, May 2002
Competing Against A Particular Dread: Novel ideas to counter panic generation NATO-Russia Advanced Scientific Workshop on Social and Psychological Consequences of Chemical and Biological Terrorism, March 27 2002 NATO HQ: Brussels
Fighting the Future: Social Science Contributions to the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence Conference on Contemporary Research on Terrorism and Political Violence, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, St Andrews 28-29 November 2000
The Psychology of Future Warfare: Asymmetric Risk and Decision-taking (with JP MacIntosh) Cyberwar 3.0, AFCEA International Press, January 2001
Biography
Having read for a doctorate in the Department of Social Anthropology at the
University of St. Andrews, Mils joined the Centre for Human Sciences of the
Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) of the UK Ministry of Defence
in 1998. Initially contributing technical input to Information Operations research,
he rapidly came to be deployed on a range of research and consultancy activies
across the organisation. In 2000 Mils was appointed Task Manager and in the
following year Capability Group Leader as DERA moved towards privatisation (as
QinetiQ). Mils left QinetiQ in 2002, and joined DERA's successor organisation
the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL). At the same time, Mils
was seconded to the Civil Contingencies Secretariat of the Cabinet Office.
Mils has also served as a member of the Department of Trade and Industry Taskforce
on Future Society and Crime and Secretary of a Defence Scientific Advisory Committee
Working Party on Information Operations and Information Technology.
Mphills@dstl.gov.uk
Mils.hills@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk