Network Science

The military is currently attempting to develop itself into a force capable of networkcentricoperations. While this effort has highlighted the military''s dependence oninteracting networks, it has also shown that there is a huge gap between what we need toknow about networks and our fundamental knowledge about network behavior. This gapmakes the military vision of NCO problematic. To help address this problem, the Armyasked the NRC to find out whether identifying and funding a new field of "networkscience" could help close this gap. This report presents an examination of networks andthe military, an analysis of the promise, content, and challenges of network science, and an assessment of approaches to creating value from network science.