At the Limits of Knowledge – Human Terrain System

Armed conflict is a human enterprise such that, by extension, understanding of the human dimension in a given area of operations should be thought integral to planning successful operations. Human Terrain System (HTS) was the most expensive social science program in history – the US Army’s has quietly come to an end. During its ten years of existence, the controversial program cost tax payers more than $725 million. The Pentagon distributed much of the funding to two large defense firms that became the HTS’s principal contractors: BAE Systems and CGI Federal.