The Wicked Game: Planning for Nonlinear Warfare
Abstract
As the United States realigns its military ways and means to deter and defeat the nation's near-peer adversaries in large-scale combat operations, the United States must not overlook its adversary's capability to employ nonlinear warfare to achieve political objectives. Both China and Russia are attempting to expand their regional and global influence while countering US global influence. This occurs primarily through the information and cyber domains. The employment of cyber and information technologies provides Russia and China with an asymmetric advantage over the West. Both nations acknowledge the value of the cyber and information domains, which is reflected in emerging Chinese and Russian nonlinear warfare doctrine. The Russian incursion into Ukraine and Chinese activities within the South China Sea provide recent examples of their nonlinear doctrine in action. To assist in meeting these challenges, the US military should consider adapting its operational art framework to assist planners in developing campaign plans that are distinctively suited for defeating nonlinear threats. A planning framework for countering nonlinear threats requires an operational art framework for comprehending these ill-structured problems. Designing campaigns to counter nonlinear warfare specifically within the cyber and information domains requires planners to use a "grammar" unique to this type of conflict.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 23, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1083672
Entities
People
- Christopher S. Sweitzer
Organizations
- School of Advanced Military Studies