The United States Military and Humanitarian Operations

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has employed its military on a dozen occasions to provide humanitarian assistance at home and abroad to victims of man-made and natural disasters. In FY94 alone, sixty countries benefitted from humanitarian assistance provided by the Department of Defense.3 These humanitarian operations and other deployments for "operations other than war" have led military officers and defense experts to question the impact such operations have on the military's readiness now and future ability successfully to fulfill its primary mission: deter aggression and defend the nation -- fight and win the nation's wars. Humanitarian operations use resources and preempt the training military forces need to be ready to fight. On the other hand, often only the military has the capabilities needed to provide emergency humanitarian assistance.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA441106

Entities

People

  • Donald E. Booth

Organizations

  • National War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cold War
  • Combat Readiness
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Deployment
  • Disasters
  • Doctrine
  • Emergency Response
  • Governments
  • Humanitarian Assistance
  • Medical Personnel
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Public Administration
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies