The Playmaker System
for Information Warfighters and Analysts
ABSTRACT
The Playmaker System™ is a patented three-part decision system for information warfighters and
analysts. Acclaimed by business and academic leaders as a breakthrough ontology, it gives influencers,
decision-makers and analysts the ability to pinpoint and manage the strategies of their operating
environment with unprecedented clarity and efficiency. The result is shorter time-to-know, faster timeto-influence, and increased command and control.
This brief whitepaper explains the applications and benefits of The System from a military and national
security perspective. It calls on the collective expertise of the ontology’s parent company, Playmaker
Systems, LLC, and its partners in the military and national security fields.
Contact:
Playmaker Systems, LLC
Alan Kelly, Founder & Executive Director
akelly@playmakersystems.com
www.playmakersystems.com
301-654-6500
update: Aug. 2013
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Playmaker Systems, LLC
Bethesda, MD USA
301.654.6500
www.playmakersystems.com
1
Introduction: The Need for Professional Operating Units
We are fighting information and intelligence wars on a global scale, yet we know remarkably little about
our ammunition. It’s as if we’ve begun the Manhattan Project without first understanding the
properties of uranium and plutonium. The results are unpredictable and have the potential to backfire.
This patchwork approach to information warfare can be attributed in large part to a dearth of
professional operating units by which military I/O and influence functions are managed and measured.
In the absence of these constructs, our military, intelligence services, diplomats, politicians and allies
continue to operate in their trades from a deficit—without the benefit of a unifying framework by which
to understand the intelligence. That is, until now.
The Playmaker System – anchored by The Standard Table of Influence™ and its 24 associated plays (see
below) – describes all possible actions in competitive and supportive relationships, and the likely
outcomes of these actions. All in a concise, tested, easy-to-use and unprecedented ontology.
Playmaker Systems, LLC
Bethesda, MD USA
301.654.6500
www.playmakersystems.com
2
Military and National Security Applications and Benefits
Below are three brief military and national security-related examples of the Playmaker ontology at work.
Each reflects the applicability of the system across branches and departments in the military and
national security establishment—irrespective of the analyst/soldier/decision-maker paradigm.
Spotting Patterns
Through tools co-developed by Playmaker Systems and partners in the military and national security
fields, the Playmaker ontology detects unique strategy patterns against targeted groups or topics. From
the perspective of defense threat reduction, analysts can derive and anticipate outcomes based on
known sequences ascertained through human, signal, cyber and other forms of intelligence. Whether
it’s a message board quip from the Maghreb or a radio communication intercepted in Mindanao, these
are discreet influence strategies (a.k.a., plays) that can be coded, analyzed and filtered through military
and intelligence protocols.
Common Operating Language
The Playmaker System is engineered to serve as a lingua-franca for information warfighters and analysts
of all disciplines. With The System, analysts have a common framework to discern and discuss complex
issues, making agreement more meaningful and disagreement more productive. Speaking playmaker,
FBI counter-radicalization activities in Minneapolis are on the same page with their foreign counterparts
in Mogadishu. Triaging intelligence, building target profiles, depicting actions and anticipating outcomes
are within Playmaker’s proven realm. Taxonomies in science, art, data management, weapons analysis
and other diverse fields have accelerated achievement and improved collaboration; information
warfighters and analysts now have their equivalent.
COIN Communications
U.S. military and diplomatic personnel lack tested and uniform frameworks by which effective and
repeatable counter-insurgency communication can be practiced. Through its intuitive taxonomic
structure and easy-to-remember naming conventions, The Playmaker System is an information
operative’s missing weapon. Already taught in the classroom at leading research universities, the
ontology can be adopted at or integrated into war college curricula, in military boot camps, and
diplomatic and intelligence orientations. It can even be self-taught and referenced through software
applications.
For more information, please visit www.playmakersystems.com.
Playmaker Systems, LLC
Bethesda, MD USA
301.654.6500
www.playmakersystems.com
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