A Model for Winning-An Alternative Perspective for Applying Operational Art to the War on Drugs.
Abstract
After briefly profiling the status of drug abuse in America on the eve of the ten year anniversary of the establishment of the office of national drug control policy and the advent of the so-called war on drugs, the author proposes a thesis to explain why operational success in fighting the drug war has not translated in a straight-forward way into attainment of national strategic goals as set forth in the national counter drug strategy (NDCS). The thesis is that subtle but significant inconsistencies in the NDCS coupled with unrecognized assumptions about the nature of the economic cycle that governs drug cartel operational centers of gravity. This, in turn, has impacted the development of appropriate theater-strategic goals as well as appropriate operational objectives in accordance with the principles of action in MOOTW. The author then examines the goals of NDCS in detail and proposes a model for the underlying assumptions governing drug cartel economics. He then proposes an alternative model, which is then contrasted with the first. Planning implications of the alternative model are developed and a variety of recommendations are offered for strategic and operational planners.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 13, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA348585
Entities
People
- Jeremy W. Gillespie
Organizations
- Naval War College