Effects based decision support for riot control: employing influence diagrams and embedded simulation

Effects-based operations emphasize actions performed to achieve effects beyond the most obvious tactical goals. In the case of riot control at a summit, these effects include the rights of societal institutions to meet and to make decisions, as well as the right of the people to protest against these decisions. Here, we propose a concept for a commander involved in riot control to evaluate different strategies in real-time against these conflicting goals. We describe, conceptually, how influence diagrams and different embedded simulation techniques need to be applied in order to implement this functionality. We also give an example of how the suggested approach will appear from an operational point of view