Directed Telescope: Element of Effective Command

All organizations have an established hierarchy of leadership and structure. This is especially true of the military. The armed services have several lines of communication within its organization. There is the commander's line of communication - messages and instructions passed from commander to commander up and down the organization. Then there is the functional or staff method of organizational communication. Operations officers exchanging information with other operations officers up and down the entity. Other staff sections do the same - the communications, medical, personnel, and logistics officers communicate with each other. Let's not forget the enlisted chain of communication - senior NCOs, SGMs, and CSMs. In addiction, there are several other informal methods of communication available to commander and staffs.

Filtering. However, there is also a "filtering" process that takes place in the military communication process. Subordinate commands will pass up information, reports, and briefings to the higher headquarters (whether commander to commander or staff section to staff section) that have been diluted or sanitized. There are many levels to a military organization. Within the Army you can start at the platoon level, through company, battalion, brigade, division, and all the way to corps and beyond. At every level bad news is watered down and good news emphasized. Ultimately, the higher headquarters is making plans and decisions based on skewed reporting.

Timeliness. In addition to the filtering problem there is the timeliness of the reporting. Information becomes stale as time goes by. Some problems can be fixed immediately if the higher echelons know about a problem. Then again, some problems will get only bigger if no remedy is taken to alleviate the situation.

Commander's Intent. In addition to the "filtering" and "timeliness" dilemma there is the difficulty of ensuring that a commander's intent is actually being followed at the lower levels.

Directed Telescope. Commander's through the ages have struggled with the problems associated with filtering, timeliness, and intent. One remedy used is the 'directed telescope'. The directed telescope can take the form of a commanders' aide, adviser, special staff officer, or liaison officer. The directed telescope has been used throughout military history by commanders around the world. It was a common tool used by Alexander the Great, during the Napoleonic Wars, American Civil War, World War I, and World War II; allowing commanders to cut through the haze of the battlefield and staying informed on what was really happening on the ground without the adverse effects of filtering and time.

A Discontinued Aspect of War. It would seem that the use of 'directed telescopes' (or anything resembling the function) has been discontinued by the U.S. military since World War II. There is scant evidence that this function has been replicated during the conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf War (1991), Iraq War (2003-2001), and the current Afghan conflict. In Afghanistan, however, there is a small organization that was formed in 2009 called the COMISAF Advisory and Assistance Team (CAAT). The CAAT provides this 'directed telescope' service.

Read more on this topic in The Directed Telescope: A Traditional Element of Effective Command, by LTC Gary B. Griffin, Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas published in 1985. The document is available at the link below:
http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/griffin.pdf