Regime Change the Old Fashioned Way: US Support to Insurgencies

Abstract

Recent events in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated that military interventions to affect regime change can be extremely costly and fraught with risk. When weighing future foreign policy options, it is possible that the US will turn to less overt means of changing regimes and spreading democracy, namely the sponsorship of insurgency. After analyzing historical examples of US support to insurgent movements, this paper outlines operational planning considerations and limitations. The US government currently possesses the necessary capabilities to support an insurgency, but is lacking in an effective command and control structure to ensure unity of effort. In order to properly harness these capabilities, a unique coordinating structure needs to be created that can take advantage of the disparate skill sets resident in State, CIA, and DoD.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 23, 2008
Accession Number
ADA484259

Entities

People

  • Matthew Atkins

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan
  • Central Asia
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Command And Control
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of State
  • Foreign Policy
  • Governments
  • Military Operations
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Training
  • National Security
  • Surface To Air Missiles
  • Task Forces
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control