Assessing the Impact of In-government Cooperation Dynamics: A Simluation-Based Systems Inquiry

We coined the term “government extended enterprise” (GEE) to describe sets of effectively autonomous government organizations that must cooperate voluntarily to achieve desired GEE-level outcomes. A GEE is, by definition, a complex dynamical system of systems (SoS). Our continuing research investigates the proposition that the interaction of four “canonical forces” affects both internal GEE cooperation and SoS-level operational effectiveness, changing the GEE’s status as indicated by the "SoS differentiating characteristics" detailed by Boardman and Sauser. Three prior papers have described the concepts involved, postulated the relationships among them, discussed the n-player, iterated "Stag Hunt" methodology applied to execute a real proof-of-concept case (the U.S. Counterterrorism Enterprise’s response to the Christmas Day Bomber) in an agent-based model, and presented preliminary conclusions from testing of the simulation. This paper adds key insights gleaned from additional in-depth review of relevant literature and data analysis.