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In this report, several authors explore the concept of undergoverned spaces (UGS) and the concepts, challenges, and prospects for developing new approaches to long-term competition in open-ended or infinite games within the context of UGS. This exploration marks an initial step toward developing a functional perspective on determining whether new approaches to strategy and engagement are warranted, and what the implications of those steps might be regarding the actions considered, the rationale for choosing among those actions, and the ways that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and National Security Enterprise (NSE) organize to perform them. This report is divided into four parts, each presenting different perspectives on the challenges posed by UGS and the opportunities to improve how the United States competes within them.

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Military planning --- Operational art (Military science)

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Cost-per-effect analysis aims to improve decisionmaking through an enterprise-wide approach to cost-effectiveness. Such an approach would allow decisionmakers to compare alternatives not just within a single mission area or facet but also across an entire enterprise. Promising advancements in defense planning will most likely be realized through deliberate and incremental improvements in current cost-effectiveness techniques. Cost-per-effect is cost-effectiveness with a broader, or joint, focus that supports higher-level decisionmaking. The authors show how the Department of the Air Force (DAF) can begin to implement cost-per-effect analysis by following the analytic framework for measuring cost-per-effect proposed in this report. This framework consists of five interrelated measurements: effects, costs, campaigns, trade-offs, and optimization. The authors also show how the DAF, with its joint partners, could follow the programmatic framework of processes, proposed in this report, for implementing enterprise cost-effectiveness analysis. These processes adopt the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach to incorporate continuous improvement. Drawing from subject-matter expertise and findings from the literature analysis and a tabletop exercise, the authors highlight several key insights about the ongoing defense analytic problem and its enduring challenges, including the analytic complexity of defense planning, the analytic complexity of cost estimation, the analytic complexity of effectiveness estimation, and the limitations of modeling and analysis. They conclude by offering next steps to contribute to discussions about possibly implementing cost-per-effect analysis into defense planning and improving the defense planning process.

United States. --- Planning --- Appropriations and expenditures --- Procurement --- United States --- Armed Forces --- Decision making --- Cost effectiveness