Principles for Winning the Global War on Terrorism
Abstract
Following September 11, 2001 sweeping changes were made to U.S. national strategy and institutions to deal with the threat of terrorism at home and abroad. These changes require an unprecedented level of cooperation among agencies and departments at all levels if national strategy is going to be successful. One means of unifying the efforts of all instruments of national power is to establish a unifying set of principles that all key players can use and identify with in the fight against terrorism, similar to the Principles of War that the Department of Defense (DoD) uses to fight and win military battles and campaigns. The proposed principles are as follows: Objective, Unity of Effort, Freedom of Action, Initiative, Efficiency of Effort, Simplicity, Protection, Restraint, Perseverance, and Flexibility. What one calls this new set of principles is less important than having and using them, but senior leadership needs to reach consensus on their purpose and their name. They could be called "The Principles of War for the Global War on Terrorism" or "The Principles for Defeating Terrorism" or simply "The Principles of War." The author reviews various interpretations of principles of war, including Principles of War (JP 3-0), Principles of Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW) (JP 3-0), U.S. Coast Guard Operating Principles (CG Pub 1), Proposed Principles of War for the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), Principles of Operations (Glenn, 1998), Fundamentals of Joint Warfare (JP 1), and Evolving Fundamentals of 21st Century Warfare and Crisis Resolution.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 15, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA464223
Entities
People
- Virginia J. Kammer
Organizations
- Naval War College