Parallel science and technology for C2 in the agentic age: from military operations to peaceful sustainability and resiliency

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Abstract Command and control (C2) has traditionally been framed as a military problem of sensing, deciding, coordinating, and acting under uncertainty, conflict, and time pressure. In the agentic age, however, this problem is being extended far beyond the battlefield, as human organizations become increasingly embedded in hybrid environments composed of artificial agents, digital twins, social sensing networks, foundation models, autonomous platforms, and cyber–physical–social institutions. This article develops a conceptual framework for parallel science and technology for C2 by revisiting the historical mission of C2 as a quest for certainty under diversity, uncertainty, and complexity (DUC), and by tracing its transformation toward focus, agility, and convergence (FAC). Building on parallel systems, artificial societies, computational experiments, parallel execution (ACP), cyber–physical–social systems (CPSS), C2 management (C2M), planning–readiness–execution–assessment (PREA) loops, social cognition operations, and parallel battlefield intelligence, the article argues that C2 should be reframed as a general science of coordinated adaptation. It further examines emerging agentic societies as a new operating ecology, explains why parallel science and technology are needed, and redefines the mission of future C2 around sustainability and resiliency. Rather than merely accelerating decision cycles or optimizing combat efficiency, parallel C2 aims to support anticipation, adaptation, trust, recovery, and responsible human agency across both military and civilian domains, thereby transforming command and control from post-hoc operational control into a science of sustainable and resilient coordination in the agentic age.