B. H. Liddell Hart: The Strategy of the Indirect Approach and the Counter-Narcotics Campaign
Abstract
Narcotics is the most dangerous current threat to national security. Oddly enough, and despite 45 years of cold war contingency planning, it also is probably the most clearly defined threat -- and one which lends itself to "classical" campaign planning. In comparison with either the threat of general war with the Soviets or a major economic crisis involving the deficit and international debt situation, the narcotics threat is both less hypothetical and more imminent. The United States also has evaluated its own "friendly" situation. It has a national "Czar" whose Office of the National Drug Control Policy has largely identified the various resources necessary for waging a long and bitter campaign. Equally, the nation appears to have decided that the "center of gravity" is the demand side, with supply an important but lesser strategic objective. But, despite a wealth of specific knowledge on the threat and an emerging unity in key public attitudes, a strategic design is still missing. B. H. Liddell Hart's "indirect approach" is one that offers to effectively meld the disparate elements into a national counter-narcotic strategy. As the United States develops its counter-narcotics strategy, it should consider the future form of three sets of relationships: the individual American and his/her civil rights; the federal framework linking state and central government; and, the web of future relationships between Washington and those countries involved in the counter-narcotics campaign -- particularly friendly Latin American and Asian states serving as unwilling hosts to cartel operations. A victory at the complete expense of any of these relationships may be no victory at all.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA437571
Entities
People
- Anthony A. Wood
Organizations
- National War College