ltcol john boyd usaf fighter pilot

8/14/2019 LtCol John Boyd USAF Fighter Pilot

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LtCol John Boyd USAF Fighter Pilot

If you really want to do some homework, I challenge you to read about Lt. Col. John Boyd (USAF)

(deceased). There is a biography, and several web sites devoted to him, his ideas, and his work. In

addition to being a top-flight pilot, founder of the Air Force combat pilot training system that the Navy

adopted and morphed into its TopGun school, and much, much more, he is most famous for his OODA

Loop Theory [OODA is an acronym that stands for a rapid, repeated cycle of Orient, Observe, Decide,

Act.]

Go and read about the OODA Loop, and come to understand how he applied it to high-speed aerial

combat, and then how he applied it to ground combat (his work was embraced by the US Marine Corps),

and then how he briefed the Secretary of Defense on his theory just before Desert Storm, and how thattheory was successfully applied to the initial knock-out punch thrown at Saddam in Kuwait.

And when you come to a higher understanding about the OODA Loop, and how it uses information

gleaned from the opponent and the environment and thrust into the decision-making loop rapidly so that

you may stay one step ahead of your opponent, then I want you to remember that Dick Cheney was

briefed on it.

And then I want you to ponder, for a minute, the use of Total Information Awareness campaigns, data-

mining, and various intelligence-gathering methods available to the US government; these are the sources

for information that are pumped into the complex loop.

And then I want you to remember that Cheney was briefed...

And then I want you to consider how this OODA loop has likely been used for domestic political

purposes....

And then I want you to consider, given the explosive theories suggested by Ruppert and Singh relative to

the war games, and the use of very sophisticated software (PROMIS and PTECH), how the OODA loop

may have played a role on 9/11.


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If you understand how Boyd thinks, all you need is one short opportunity for advantage; then repeat the

process rapidly. Boyds nickname was 40-second Boyd. No one in his entire history could ever, in a

simulated dogfight, avoid being "killed" by Boyd in under 40 seconds.

In the Desert Storm event, the 6th largest army on the planet put their hands in the air and surrendered in

36 hours. Some units literally surrendered to drones.

NORAD and the FAA were confused for 90 minutes. America threw its hands up in confusion when

asked to think about what happened on 9/11. They can't see what happened because they too have been

misled and confused on purpose.

--

FromBoyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War, Robert Coram, Back Bay Books, Little

Brown & Co., Boston 2002, p. 335-6:

Understanding the OODA Loop is difficult. First, even though it is called a loop, it is not. A drawing

of the Loop shows thirty arrows connecting the various ingredients, which means hundreds of possible

loops can be derived.Even Boyds Acolytes do not always agree with what Boyd meant by the

OODA Loop The OODA Loop briefing contains 185 slides.

The OODA loop is based on Boyds earlier thesis entitled Destruction and Creation, which links

Godels Proof, Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle, and the second law of thermodynamics.

Boyd spent four years researching and writing and then distilling his [thesis] down to eleven pages;

the result has the specific gravity approaching that of uranium. It is thick and heavy and ponderous, filled

with caveats and qualifiers and arcane references that span theories never before connected. To read [it] is

to fully appreciate the term heavy sledding. [Page 323]

--

You can download the pdf of Boyds Destruction & Creation here: http://www.goalsys.com/id17.htm
http://www.goalsys.com/id17.htmhttp://www.goalsys.com/id17.htm


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--

An important part of the thesis is an elaboration on the idea that a relationship exists between the

observer and what is being observed. This idea is not original, but the author presents a new

explanation of how we perceive physical reality. Several people can look at the same process or same

event and each might see it in an entirely different fashion. A crowd streaming into a college football

stadium is seen in significantly different ways by a fraternity member, a TV cameraman, the beer

distributor, the security officer, and the college president. Furthermore, each process of observation

changes what is being observed. The people in the football stadium, knowing that they are being recorded

by a TV camera, might wave or shout or begin a spontaneous demonstration. The same crowd, knowing

that security officers are monitoring them, might become subdued, or perhaps confrontational. If we areaware of the changes that take place during a dynamic interaction, we can and must reassess and

recalculate our own relationship with that which we are observing; the process not only shapes what is

being observed, but feedback reshapes the observer's outlook. The TV cameraman searches out people

who are not waving. Security officers become more vigilant because they know people in the crowd are

disguising their behavior. A cycle begins, and it is repeated over and over again.

--

The OODA loop is used to create the fog of war.

--

The act of observation is, of course, filtered. We usually see what we expect to see, not what is actually

taking place. And what we do manage to observe is colored or tinted by our past experience. Once we

actually observe something, our brain attempts to orient itself to the new information. Does it match our

past experience, or our cultural background, or our genetic make-up? If not, is it powerful enough to

significantly change our view of the world? One way or another, it becomes part of our new reality.

Source:http://isobe.typepad.com/sketchpad/
http://isobe.typepad.com/sketchpad/http://isobe.typepad.com/sketchpad/http://isobe.typepad.com/sketchpad/http://isobe.typepad.com/sketchpad/


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And our past experience, in a media-driven world, is colored by the images, stories, headlines,

pronouncements and leaks given to us repetitively and programmatically.

Suggestion is a powerful tool. Keep that in mind when you listen to a car salesman.

--

Lt. Col. Rich Liebert, who teaches tactics at the Army Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth,

Kan., agreed that Boyds thinking was visible during Desert Storm. "The constant references to and the

delay of the 'shock and awe'bombing campaign, is the kind of psychological warfare that Boyd

recommended toparalyze the enemy," he said. [fromhttp://www.post-

gazette.com/nation/20030321boydnatp5.asp]

Boyd proposed a way of achieving our national goal based on his OODA loop theory. He said that the

US should penetrate the adversaries moral-mental-physical being, aiming to dissolve his moral fiber,

disorient his operations, and overload his system. Once this has been achieved, the enemy would be

psychologically paralyzed, and his will to resist would collapse.

By operating inside the adversaries OODA loop, the US can generate mismatches between the events and

efforts the enemy sees or imagines and those he must react to. The enemy will then be immersed in an

amorphous, menacing, and unpredictable world, and he will be strategically defeated. Boyd explained that

the US should maneuver the enemy into a position where he can neither divine our intentions nor focus

his efforts to cope with the strategic design to splinter, isolate, envelop, and overwhelm him.

Fromhttp://www.ndu.edu/nwc/writing/AY04/5602/5602K.pdf

According to Col John Boyd's observation-orientation-decision-action (OODA) loop theory, this kind of

offensive effort can "enmesh [the] adversary in a world of uncertainty, doubt, mistrust, confusion,

disorder, fear, panic, chaos . . . and/or fold [him] back inside himself so that he cannot cope with

events/efforts as they unfold."

[from http://www.iwar.org.uk/iwar/resources/airchronicles/man1.htm]
http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20030321boydnatp5.asphttp://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20030321boydnatp5.asphttp://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20030321boydnatp5.asphttp://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20030321boydnatp5.asphttp://www.ndu.edu/nwc/writing/AY04/5602/5602K.pdfhttp://www.ndu.edu/nwc/writing/AY04/5602/5602K.pdfhttp://www.iwar.org.uk/iwar/resources/airchronicles/man1.htmhttp://www.iwar.org.uk/iwar/resources/airchronicles/man1.htmhttp://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20030321boydnatp5.asphttp://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20030321boydnatp5.asphttp://www.ndu.edu/nwc/writing/AY04/5602/5602K.pdfhttp://www.iwar.org.uk/iwar/resources/airchronicles/man1.htm


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--

Boyd's view of combat manifests itself in his OODA Loop, a loop which shows the human decision

makingprocess. In warfare, both sides fight the conflict by working through this loop. Boyd's belief is

that the opponent who works through the loop faster has gained a measure of moral agility. With this

agility, he can then act to cause his opponent to react. His actions can confuse, and disorient his

opponent's moral force, by consistently forcing an opponent to play catch-up. The destruction of an

enemy's armed forces, if it must be done at all, becomes secondary to the need to get into his loop and

force him to over- and under-react.

The employment of Boyd's system is the management of chaos. To spread chaos among the enemy and to

stem the chaotic effects upon one's own. Boyd's warfare is a moral one. By moral, I mean thepsychological ability for an enemy to apply intellectual effort to the complicated tasks of war. The first

goal of an aggressor, and in Boyd's philosophy the advantage always lies with the aggressor, is to confuse

and blind an opponent. In Boyd's OODA loop, the single largest component is that ofobservation. Cut

that and the enemy is virtually defeated.

The next component is orientation. For this component, I must first give a few words on the idea of

shock. An enemy's military force is like the human body. The human body can sustain a good deal of

trauma, however, multiple injuries multiply their effects. [shock] These multiple injuries greatly enhance

the difficulties a human body faces when trying to deal with the damage. Warfare is much the same.

Multiple strikes against a variety of targets, not only increases the number of actions within a certain

amount of time which an enemy must take to save himself; it also increases the strain put on subsystems,

like logistics, communications, command and control, co-ordination, and so on. The result is the spread of

confusion and uncertainty [awe]. Add to this the increased affect of further strikes and chaos spreads,

ultimately ending in an opponent's complete paralysis. This is the effect of striking an opponent's

orientation. Confuse him, do the unexpected, rapidly shift around, and eventually destroy his moral

functions.

The third component of Boyd's OODA Loop is decision. By introducing traumatic shock to an opponent's

orientation, his decisions become increasingly reactive and desperate. He'll either be forced to skip this

component all together, by falling back on pre-planned operations, or strike blindly at any perceived


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menace.

The last, and final, component is action. This component represents the physical elements' reaction to the

previous three moral components. With the rest of the loop suffering moral shock, physical damage can

be introduced with relative ease, if even needed at all.

[from http://www.neokaw.com/interests/boyd_tsu_clause.php ]

--

For a thorough look at Boyds work, see www.belisarius.com and www.d-n-i.net (Defense and the

National Interest). These are web sites run by one of Boyds Acolytes and focus on how the OODA loopcan be applied to business and to defense in the national interest.

One of the areas to which Boyd turned his attention was Pentagon procurement; one of his other

Acolytes was Franklin Spinney.

--

On Network Centric Warfare: http://www.ausairpower.net/TE-NCW-JanFeb-05.html

For more on information systems applications, see

http://www.iwar.org.uk/iwar/resources/airc...es/crawford.htm.

http://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/usa...v3c2/v3c2-1.htm

http://aupress.au.af.mil/SAAS_Theses/Fadok/fadok.pdf(on strategic paralysis)

http://www.shockwavewriters.com/Articles/PGL/4.htm

The great article Got a Second?, on how the OODA Loop can be applied by law enforcement officers,

can be found here:

http://radio.weblogs.com/0107127/stories/2...eInstitute.html
http://www.neokaw.com/interests/boyd_tsu_clause.phphttp://www.ausairpower.net/TE-NCW-JanFeb-05.htmlhttp://www.ausairpower.net/TE-NCW-JanFeb-05.htmlhttp://www.iwar.org.uk/iwar/resources/airchronicles/crawford.htmhttp://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/usaf/2025/v3c2/v3c2-1.htmhttp://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/usaf/2025/v3c2/v3c2-1.htmhttp://aupress.au.af.mil/SAAS_Theses/Fadok/fadok.pdfhttp://aupress.au.af.mil/SAAS_Theses/Fadok/fadok.pdfhttp://www.shockwavewriters.com/Articles/PGL/4.htmhttp://www.shockwavewriters.com/Articles/PGL/4.htmhttp://radio.weblogs.com/0107127/stories/2003/02/08/oodaCycleByKenGouldDirectorSurefireInstitute.htmlhttp://www.neokaw.com/interests/boyd_tsu_clause.phphttp://www.ausairpower.net/TE-NCW-JanFeb-05.htmlhttp://www.iwar.org.uk/iwar/resources/airchronicles/crawford.htmhttp://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/usaf/2025/v3c2/v3c2-1.htmhttp://aupress.au.af.mil/SAAS_Theses/Fadok/fadok.pdfhttp://www.shockwavewriters.com/Articles/PGL/4.htmhttp://radio.weblogs.com/0107127/stories/2003/02/08/oodaCycleByKenGouldDirectorSurefireInstitute.html


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http://www.goalsys.com/id68.htmOperationalizing Sun Tzu

The D-N-I web site also has a great article on how the OODA Loop can be taught within the context of a

sports team.

--

Excerpts fromBoyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War:

For a time, Boyd and Spinney were reluctant to fully explain the OODA loop; it was far too dangerous.

If someone truly understands how to create menace and uncertainty and mistrust, then how to exploit and

magnify the presence of these disconcerting elements, the Loop can be vicious, a terribly destructive

force, virtually unstoppable in causing panic and confusion and Boyds phrase is best unraveling the

competition.

This is true whether the Loop is applied in combat, in competitive business practices, in sports, or in

personal relationships.

The most amazing aspect of the OODA Loop is that the losing side rarely understands what happened.

This may also be what has happened in domestic politics since before 9/11.

And it may be what happened to the NORAD/FAA chain of command on 9/11.

--

The 9/11 Peoples Commission presentations by Ruppert and Singh detail the war games run by Cheney

on 9/11 and suggest the possible use of software like that of PROMIS and/or PTECH (described as of
http://www.goalsys.com/id68.htmhttp://www.goalsys.com/id68.htmhttp://www.goalsys.com/id68.htm


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risk management and enterprise architecture, orback door surveillance and operational intervention

capability software with an artificial intelligence core):

--

FBI Agent Robert Wright said his investigation into the founders and financiers of Ptech and their

financing shell, something called BMI, was also shut down. BMI stands for Bait ul Mal, which later

turned out to be a front for Hamas and al Qaeda. Governor Kean did a $24 million land deal with a sub

[SIC Subsidiary] of BMI, three percent of which the commission went back to BMI. The Kean

Commission does not mention Ptech at all. They were going to air the Ptech story nationwide and the lead

story in the first year anniversary of 9/11 There were many other networks that had gotten wind of it

and all the networks were going to run the Ptech story on the first year anniversary. However, the WhiteHouse got wind of the investigation [Indira Singh] has proof of that and shut the story down in late

August. Ptech was with Mitre [Corporation] in the basement of the FAA for two years prior to 9/11. Their

specific job is to look at interoperability issues the FAA had with NORAD and the Air Force in the case of

an emergency. If anyone was in a position to know that the FAA, that there was a window of opportunity

or to insert software or to change anything it would have been Ptech along with Mitre. And that ties right

back to Michael Rupperts information.The functionality that Michael [Ruppert] is claiming that Dick

Cheney utilized is the exact same functionality I was looking to utilize Ptech for in the bank. I was

looking to set up a shadow surveillance system on everything going on, every transaction and the ability

to backdoor, [to] look at information unobtrusively and to backdoor intelligent agents out there to do

things that other people would not be aware of.

Another company known to have PROMIS, aside from DynCorp, is Lockheed Martin, on whose board of

directors sat Lynne Cheney, the Vice Presidents wife. She was also in the PEOC, Presidential

Emergency Operations Center, with her husband on the morning of 9/11. How did she get in? She didnt

hold a government office. But if you consider the two companies, Lockheed Martin and DynCorp

control all the financial auditing of the Department of Defense, the Departments of Housing and Urban

Development and about 10 other departments in the U.S. government and the fact that the Pentagon has

lost, quote, unquote, $3.3 trillion of your money to the accounting system that they refuse to account for.

The money just disappeared. That also is PROMIS software in action. DynCorp also operates the

telephone systems for the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.


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[ Source: http://justicefor911.org/September-Hearings.doc]

This indeed may be an explanation for how all the puzzle pieces fit into the approach used to paralyze the

minds of many filling roles within the normal day-to-day system at the FAA, NORAD and other agencies

at all.

This also makes the issue of conspiracy look much more functional because people don't have to be co-

conspirators.

If you understand how someone thinks and normally acts, you can then use that against them, or as a

shield behind which you can hide, or through which you can dupe them into being compliant without

knowing that they are compliant.

It may also explain numerous other sideline anomalies that have never been explained. Perhaps these

were the remnants of a set-up that was not used or required.

--

Excerpts fromBoyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War,

Robert Coram, Back Bay Books/Little, Brown & Co., 2002, ISBN 0-316-79688-3.

From the Epilogue (p. 447): Vice President Cheney has his own ideas about Boyds place in military

history. We could use him again now. I wish he was around now. Id love to turn him loose on our

current defense establishment and see what we could come up with.We are still oriented toward the

past. We need to think about the next one hundred years rather than the last one hundred years.

--

For a slide show on Misperception, Self-Perception and Information Warfare, go to
http://justicefor911.org/September-Hearings.dochttp://justicefor911.org/September-Hearings.doc


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http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/courseware/c...5-LB-Slides.pdf.

--

A number of articles by Franklin Chuck Spinney, one of Boyds Acolytes,

can be found at the web site run by another of those Acolytes;

heres one http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/comments/c549.htm

--

To help readers revisit the military exercises question, here are the timelines:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timelin...litaryExercises

John R. Boyd knew this. He knew it instinctively in the early 1950s when, as a young U.S. AirForce fighter pilot -- cocky even by fighter-pilot standards -- he issued a standing challenge to allcomers: Starting from a position of disadvantage, he'd have his jet on their tail within 40 seconds,or he'd pay out $40. Legend has it that he never lost. His unfailing ability to win any dogfight in

40 seconds or less earned him his nickname: "40 Second" Boyd.

Boyd applied his intuitive understanding of energy maneuverability to the study of aeronautics. Inthe 1970s, he helped design and champion the F-16, an aluminum manifestation of everything heknew about competition. Then he focused his tenacious intellect on something grander, anexpression of agility that, for him and others, became a consuming passion: the OODA loop.

Observation; orientation; decision; action. On the face of it, Boyd's loop is a simple reckoning ofhow human beings make tactical decisions. But it's also an elegant framework for creatingcompetitive advantage. Operating "inside" an adversary's OODA loop -- that is, acting quickly tooutthink and outmaneuver rivals -- will, Boyd wrote, "make us appear ambiguous, [and] therebygenerate confusion and disorder."

The product of a singular, half-century-long journey through the realms of science, history, andmoral philosophy, Boyd's ideas both augment and challenge conventional thinking aboutorganizations and conflict. Boyd himself, a cigar-smoking maverick, enjoyed distinctiveunpopularity in official Pentagon circles. But even among critics, his OODA loop was muchharder to dismiss.
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/courseware/cse468/Lectures/IWAR-2005-LB-Slides.pdfhttp://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/comments/c549.htmhttp://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=militaryExerciseshttp://www.csse.monash.edu.au/courseware/cse468/Lectures/IWAR-2005-LB-Slides.pdfhttp://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/comments/c549.htmhttp://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&before_9/11=militaryExercises


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ltcol john boyd usaf fighter pilot

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