Our solution will inevitably be based on both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Through the application of quantitative analysis we strive to reduce the level of uncertainty in a given situation or problem. Quantitative analysis uses analytic reasoning and logical models. Analytic reasoning reduces problems to a base of underlying causal relations. One builds a logical model structured with an explicit set of axioms, premises, and assumptions.
All effort is directed toward detection of internal system relationships.
One orders these relationships into a model. The resulting model is explicit and well defined. Different people analyzing the same question should arrive at the same answer on the basis of logic alone. Much of what we do in targeting or target development is concerned with value choices that, while they may be described explicitly in words, are extremely difficult to describe in the language of mathematics or the computer. Throughout the targeting process we must maintain the thread of objectives or, in other words, the commander's vision of the desired end state.