Crony Attack: Strategic Attack's Silver Bullet
Abstract
As a strategy, crony attacks target key elite supporters of an enemy's leader to effect policy change in the attacker's favor. This type of attack is one of the tools used in coercive diplomacy along with economic sanctions and information operations. To properly and efficiently leverage the potentially powerful mechanism of crony attack demands coordination among those responsible for wielding the military, diplomatic, economic, and informational instruments of national power. This thesis describes the crony attack, comments on requirements for successful development of crony attack methodology, and investigates a prominent case in which the United States apparently used this strategy. The thesis treats crony attack primarily as a form of strategic attack, carried out during the air campaign portion of military operations. It also outlines a theoretical foundation for such a targeting strategy. While acknowledging that current policy and practice regarding ongoing and recent crony attacks are properly mired in secrecy, this paper investigates the case of crony attack against the Slobodan Milosevic regime during Operation Allied Force in 1999. The damage to capital-producing facilities, controlled by key political supporters of Milosevic and his wife, eventually incited those supporters to push for policy change and an end to the war.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA462291
Entities
People
- Julian H. Tolbert
Organizations
- Air University