Institutionalizing Small Wars Capabilities: The Future of Marine Corps Security Force Assistance

Abstract

As the United States prepares for future war, it faces the challenging task of applying finite resources to seemingly infinite problems. In its quest for both dominance and relevance, the United States must develop balanced defense capabilities, ensuring that it can prevail in both conventional and small wars. 1 Despite the recognition that balanced capabilities are critical to national security, the United States habitually focuses its military preparation on the most dangerous threat, war with a peer nation, often to the exclusion of preparing for the most likely threat, a small war against a weaker state or a non-state actor. Predictably, America's adversaries refuse to play to its conventional military strengths.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2018
Accession Number
AD1179097

Entities

People

  • Timothy W. Love

Organizations

  • Marine Corps University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Asymmetric Warfare
  • Combat Readiness
  • Department Of Defense
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Force Structure
  • Instructions
  • Law
  • Lessons Learned
  • Marine Corps
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Security
  • Students
  • Training
  • United States
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • Universities
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Strategic Security Studies