The Real Long War: The Illicit Drug Trade and the Role of the Military
Abstract
Since the end of the Cold War, for the United States and everyone else, the concept of security has widened enormously. It has moved far beyond the confines of national defense against military threats from other nation states, incorporating threats ranging from transnational criminality, through cyber attack, international terrorism, and aggression from rogue and other hostile states. This poses increasing challenges to the world s militaries, especially those also grappling with the consequences of reduced financial support. It raises the question of choice and priority. How should the United States allocate its priorities and resources, for example, between the worst kind of threat the nation faces and the most likely? In this monograph, Dr. Geoffrey Till explores the seriousness of the threat posed to U.S. security by the illicit trade in drugs. He shows that the threat needs to be seen in both direct and indirect terms and that it ranges from the extent of human suffering at one end of the spectrum to international destabilization at the other. He explores the extent to which the military can make a cost-effective contribution to the control of this illicit trade and concludes with a review of the adjustments that the U.S. Army and the other military services may need to make in order to accomplish this.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA586425
Entities
People
- Geoffrey Till
Organizations
- United States Army War College