Operation Exodus: The Massacre of 44 Philippine Police Commandos In Mamasapano Clash

Abstract

The Mamasapano case (also known as OPLAN: Exodus) is a controversial special operations mission that was executed in January 25, 2015, by Philippine National Police commandos to neutralize high-value terrorist leaders. During the last phase of their operation, these commandos were swarmed by different armed groups in the area of operation. This thesis analyzes the factors that led to the failure of OPLAN: Exodus through a unique perspectivethe point of view of a special operatorto study how the operations structure affected the culture, the environment, the leadership, and the men. The study assesses the leaders criteria through the science of strategic thinking, utilizing Game Theory and Multi-Attribute Decision Making; the combination of these two dynamic tools is used to evaluate their potential usefulness in special operations decision making. Finally, this thesis proposes criteria and an organizational solution that can be useful for special operations units like the Philippine National Police Special Action Forces to avoid tragedies and loss of human life, especially in the special operations community.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2016
Accession Number
AD1030109

Entities

People

  • Gilbert Jr G. Villareal

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Armored Vehicles
  • Command And Control
  • Counterterrorism
  • Employment
  • Game Theory
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • Information Science
  • International Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Operations Research
  • Organizational Structure
  • Risk Analysis
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.