Adopt and Overcome: The U.S. Military Doctrinal Gap in the COIN Fight

Abstract

Although the Army manuals (FM 3-24 Counter Terrorism, FM 3-05.30 PSYOP, and FM 3-13/JP 3-13 Information Operations) cover issues that are related to fighting an insurgent force, none of these manuals address the social mobilization concept of framing. Framing has a direct application to U.S. military operations in Iraq. The concept defines the battle for opposition leaders to garner support from the populace in order to deny the established power or regime the ability to counter opposition through force or policy. The application of framing to counterinsurgency (COIN) is appropriate and U.S. military doctrine should adopt and integrate the concept in order to guide maneuver commanders in non-kinetic and kinetic COIN operations. More specifically, framing pertains to the Information Operations (IO) battlefield, an aspect of military planning formerly placed on the conventional back burner but has now come to the forefront of U.S. military operations where 'taking the hill' has become replaced by policing streets. Should the U.S. military doctrine continue to neglect framing in its doctrinal and operational writings, it will be denying a conceptual resource to its troops that can help define the information battlefield, in which conventional armies traditionally are lacking, when conducting counter insurgency operations. In this article, I argue that the concept of framing, as defined by the social mobilization theory framework (SMT), can and should be applied to U.S. military counterinsurgency (COIN) operations. Framing provides an academic focus of study that could increase Soldiers' and Marines' concept operations within the COIN environment. The concept of framing immediately focuses the U.S. military leadership on the enemy's plan to secure the support of the population, which is the widely accepted center of gravity in the COIN fight.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA519975

Entities

People

  • Todd A. Anderson

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artillery
  • Combat Operations
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Doctrine
  • Governments
  • Information Operations
  • Insurgency
  • Maneuvers
  • Military Applications
  • Military Doctrine
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Security
  • Social Problems
  • Societies
  • United States
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.