Military Intelligence Applications for Blockchain Technology
Ashley S. M. McAbee
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA, USA
asmcabee1@nps.edu
Murali Tummala
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA, USA
mtummala @nps.edu
John C. McEachen
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA, USA
mceachen@nps.edu
Abstract
In this paper, the authors review documented
problems in military intelligence that appear well suited
for improvement via blockchain technology. We review
guidance from the literature related to determining
blockchain technology applicability and propose a
decision aid tailored to military intelligence
perspectives. We also propose applying batch queueing
theory to enable initial feasibility studies and present
analysis toward the first known case study of military
intelligence incorporation of blockchain technology, a
project reviewing blockchain applicability to an
intelligence database that stores geographic locations
of units of interest.
1. Introduction
As blockchain technology’s influence expands
beyond the bounds of the cryptocurrency sector initially
proposed by Nakamoto [1] in the Bitcoin white paper,
various potential use cases for the military seem
apparent. For example, work is well underway to see
how it might help in additive manufacturing [2].
Another clear candidate is the military intelligence
system, which comprises a wide range of networked
processes, many of which stand to benefit from the
immutable, decentralized ledger at blockchain
technology’s core. Replace ledger with log, the more
common synonymous term from military vernacular,
and the candidate systems nominate themselves.
Underscored by the often-discussed hype
surrounding blockchain, we have reached the juncture
warranting an in-depth research effort to characterize
best-use cases and implementation practices for military
intelligence, similar to the perspective for business
leaders recently offered by the World Economic Forum
(WEF) [3]. This paper will take preliminary steps
toward military intelligence adoption of blockchain
technology-based solutions by laying the groundwork
for such research. Our technique is two pronged,
focusing both on analysis of standing military
intelligence problems and analysis of blockchain
technology strengths to identify areas that seem well
aligned. We also frame the path to adoption by
proposing an approach to initial analysis of blockchain
technology’s applicability and potential performance
before significant investment.
The paper is organized into four sections as follows:
Section 2 provides brief background discussions of both
military intelligence and blockchain technology. In
Section 3, we review documented hurdles within the
military intelligence enterprise that appear to be good
candidates for blockchain technology-assisted
improvement. Section 4 reviews the guidance toward
applicability and feasibility determinations for potential
use cases, presenting a draft decision-aid from a military
intelligence perspective and proposing techniques to
enable abstraction of the blockchain-based process for
initial feasibility analysis. In Section 5, we describe an
initial case study that should prove beneficial not only
immediately to the particular case, but also to a
generalized understanding of the path toward wider
adoption.
2. Background
As characterized by the joint doctrine of the United
States [4], the joint intelligence process “includes the
organizations, capabilities, and processes involved in
the collection, processing, exploitation, analysis, and
dissemination of information or finished intelligence.”
Doctrine defines the principles of sound joint
intelligence with vocabulary that appears to belay a
natural pairing with blockchain technology including
networked, decentralized, shared, distributed,
protected, and secure. The following subsections
provide broad background descriptions of military
intelligence and blockchain technology to aid in
forecasting the relationships between the two fields.
2.1 Military intelligence
At its core, military intelligence is similar to many
business processes in that it is about collecting,
Proceedings of the 52nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences | 2019
URI: hps://hdl.handle.net/10125/60038
ISBN: 978-0-9981331-2-6
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Page 6031
