Creating an extensible command and control ontology

This essay describes the process of creating a military ontology from the war-fighter's perspective. The war-fighter's perspective is expressed in joint military doctrine, which presents fundamental principles that guide the employment of USA military forces in coordinated and integrated action toward a common objective (http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jointpub.htm). An ontology based upon military doctrine is intended to represent the war-fighter's direct view of the domain, and would be used to enhance: 1) situational understanding about some domain; 2) the military decision making and planning process; 3) the design of information systems in an evolving situation; 4) understanding about the relation of data elements to the domain. This essay uses the joint intelligence preparation of the operational environment (JIPOE) process as an example of how the war-fighter would create such an ontology. The JIPOE ontology described here is derived directly from JIPOE doctrine, and extends from a command and control (C2) ontology.