Full-spectrum dominance also known as full-spectrum superiority, is a military entity's achievement of control over all dimensions of the
battlespace
Battlespace or battle-space is a term used to signify a unified military strategy to integrate and combine armed forces for the military theatre of operations, including air, information, land, sea, cyber and outer space to achieve military ...
, effectively possessing an overwhelming diversity of resources in such areas as
terrestrial
Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth.
Terrestrial may also refer to:
* Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
,
aerial,
maritime
Maritime may refer to:
Geography
* Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps
* Maritime Region, a region in Togo
* Maritime Southeast Asia
* The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...
,
subterranean
Subterranean(s) or The Subterranean(s) may refer to:
* Subterranea (geography), underground structures, both natural and man-made
Literature
* ''Subterranean'' (novel), a 1998 novel by James Rollins
* ''Subterranean Magazine'', an American fa ...
,
extraterrestrial,
psychological
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...
, and
bio- or
cyber-technological warfare.
Full spectrum dominance includes the physical battlespace; air, surface and sub-surface as well as the
electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies (the spectrum) of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies.
The electromagnetic spectrum covers electromagnetic waves with frequencies ranging from ...
and
information space
Information space is the set of concepts, and relations among them, held by an information system; it describes the range of possible values or meanings an entity can have under the given rules and circumstances.
Scholarly definitions
Another ...
. Control implies that freedom of opposition force assets to exploit the battlespace is wholly constrained.
US military doctrine
The
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
defines "full-spectrum superiority" as:
:The cumulative effect of dominance in the air, land, maritime, and space domains and information environment, which includes
cyberspace
Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday rea ...
, that permits the conduct of joint operations without effective opposition or prohibitive interference.
The
United States military's doctrine
Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...
has espoused a strategic intent to be capable of achieving this state in a conflict, either alone or with allies, by defeating any adversary and controlling any situation across the range of military operations.
The stated intent implies significant investment in a range of capabilities: dominant maneuver, precision engagement, focused logistics, and full-dimensional protection.
In culture
Critics of
US imperialism
American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...
have referred to the term as proof of the ambitions of policymakers in the US and their alleged desire for total control.
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
referred to the term in his 2005
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
acceptance speech:
I have said earlier that the United States is now totally frank about putting its cards on the table. That is the case. Its official declared policy is now defined as "full spectrum dominance". That is not my term, it is theirs. "Full spectrum dominance" means control of land, sea, air and space and all attendant resources.Harold Pinter Nobel lecture 2005
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Metaphorical use
Full Spectrum Dominance is used in a number of non-military fields to describe a comprehensive tactical effort to support a strategy. In marketing, Full Spectrum Dominance can refer to an integrated campaign that takes into account reaching an audience across a wide variety of platforms and media to guarantee visibility and reinforcement. This might include simultaneous integration of online promotions with direct marketing, public relations, social media and other tactical marketing vehicles.
See also
*
Geostrategy
Geostrategy, a subfield of geopolitics, is a type of foreign policy guided principally by geography, geographical factors as they inform, constrain, or affect political and military planning. As with all strategy, strategies, geostrategy is concer ...
*
Network-centric warfare
Network-centric warfare, also called network-centric operations or net-centric warfare, is a military doctrine or theory of war that aims to translate an information advantage, enabled partly by information technology, into a competitive advantag ...
*
Psychological warfare
Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), have been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Mi ...
*
Overmatch
Overmatch is a concept in modern military thinking which prizes having overwhelming advantages over an adversary to a more significant margin than in traditional warfare. It is related to military superiority. Overmatch uses a military force's "ca ...
References
Further reading
* Engdahl, F. William ''Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order'' Boxborough, MA: 2009 Third Millennium Press. 268 pages.
* Mahajan, Rahul New York: 2003 Seven Stories Press.
* Vest, Jason {{cite web, url=http://www.govexec.com/features/1205-01/1205-01s5.htm, title=Missed Perceptions, access-date=20 May 2007, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515225727/http://www.govexec.com/features/1205-01/1205-01s5.htm, archive-date=15 May 2008, url-status=dead Government Executive, 1 December 2005
Military doctrines
United States Department of Defense doctrine