Abstract: A computer-aided method is for knowledge or information management in a military Command and Control environment in which deployed assets, such as ships, tanks, troops, aircraft, satellites and the like are used for at least one of surveillance, reconnaissance, information gathering, and operational response. The information gathering is hierarchical, so data describing each perception about the environment is evaluated at its own level, and some of the data is nominated for promotion to a higher level. At each level, the data may be added to, and is processed and winnowed. The finished data at each level is sent to the next hierarchical level for further like processing. At the uppermost level, the winnowed data is stored in a database. All levels of the hierarchy have direct access to all the data in the database without going through the hierarchy.