New Vision for SOUTHCOM in the War on Terror
Abstract
It is the thesis of this paper that the Global War on Terrorism calls for a reassessment of the SOUTHCOM Combatant Commander's theater strategy and relationship with other geographic Combatant Commanders. Winning the War on Terrorism demands that old procedures be revised and standardized. Drawing from unclassified sources, the author defines terrorism, classifies terrorist organizations, articulates the presumed Desired End State for the SOUTHCOM region, and describes the strategic objective(s) in the War on Terrorism. The author also reviews National Security Strategy guidelines with respect to the war on terror and contrasts this with existing SOUTHCOM theater strategy to highlight deficiencies in the scope and content of the latter. The resulting recommendations provide a new approach to organization both at the unified and sub-unified command levels that will better allow Combatant Commanders to support and be supported by their fellow Combatant Commands, other U.S. Government agencies, and regional security partners. A review of recent initiatives by Department of Defense officials to address and remedy some of the shortfalls identified here is presented in Appendix A. Appendix B presents a summary of USSOUTHCOM's current theater strategy. (23 refs.)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 03, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA415673
Entities
People
- Peter A. Ulrich
Organizations
- Naval War College