Transforming How We Fight Through Effects-Based Operations and Non-Lethal Capabilities
Abstract
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has directed that the defense establishment transform the way it thinks about and conducts warfare. This means analyzing the new security environment and building capability sets to meet emerging threats and challenges. The fact of the matter is, there are no more symmetrical threats at which the U.S. can aim its highly lethal military. Instead, emerging threats are amorphous, ubiquitous, and asymmetric. The U.S. and its military must be prepared to respond to these threats in a forceful way that demonstrates their determination and resolve. The catch is that they must also take into consideration America's growing aversion to the casualties and physical destruction inherent in conventional warfare. U.S. leaders and planners must be prepared to think and act asymmetrically just like their adversaries. Effects-based operations, with its focus on strategic effects vice physical destruction, combined with current and emerging non-lethal technologies with their temporary and reversible effects, provide an effective operational construct for meeting emerging threats head-on while also coinciding with American demands for quick victory and minimal collateral damage.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 17, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA426021
Entities
People
- David B. Hall
Organizations
- Naval War College