The Interagency and Counterinsurgency Warfare: Stability, Security, Transition, and Reconstruction Roles
Abstract
Too many American military personnel, diplomats, and government officials are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan claiming that success in bringing stability to those two countries has been minimal and difficult to sustain. Continually cited as a fundamental obstacle to U.S. progress is the interagency process controlling the interaction among the various deployed military services and government organizations. If the interagency process is in such obvious need of adjustment and is so vital to current efforts, why is it so difficult to instigate the necessary reforms? The answer emerges from the vast multitude of contradictory organizational perspectives and cultures. The challenging task is to analyze this issue broadly and in a comprehensive, unbiased manner. In the research symposium "The Interagency Process in Support and Stability Operations: The Integration and Alignment of Military and Civilian Roles and Missions" held at Texas A&M University in April 2007, attendees sought to isolate the core policy issues and generate long-term proposals to foster leadership and decisive action. To guide their research and discussion, the following five questions were examined in detail: (1) What are the roles and missions of U.S. military and government agencies in stabilization and reconstruction efforts as part of counterinsurgency warfare (historical background from case studies)?; (2) What are the recommended ways to improve leadership (for integrating and aligning roles and missions) in the interagency coordination of military-civilian operations?; (3) What are the military and civilian leadership functions, or skill sets, for conflict and post-conflict environments?; (4) How should military and civilian agencies develop those leadership skills needed in the short term and the long term?; and (5) Does the U.S. Government have a means for measuring the effectiveness of civilian-military coordination?
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA475717
Entities
People
- Jay W. Boggs
- Joseph R. Cerami
Organizations
- United States Army War College