Assessing Locally Focused Stability Operations
Abstract
Locally focused stability operations (LFSO) are an important element of counterinsurgency and stability operations. These missions, exemplified by the ongoing Village Stability Operations (VSO) effort in Afghanistan, typically involve small teams of U.S. or host-nation (HN) forces that work toward fostering local security, sustainable development, and effective governance in strategically located villages or similar areas. However, there is no standard doctrine for assessing the progress and outcomes of LFSO. As a result, those in need of such tools have developed and employed a plethora of different assessment approaches and models, with varying degrees of success. To address the lack of standard assessment doctrine, the United States Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG) enlisted support from RAND's Arroyo Center to help determine analytic frameworks, best practices, and metrics for measuring the effects of LFSO. Based on an extensive literature review and interviews with more than 50 subject-matter experts (SMEs), this report identifies, distills, and documents information that will help improve the Army's ability to measure and assess operations in which the impact of local atmospherics and other factors of influence make evaluation especially difficult. Although the study is focused on assessing operations at the local level, it also identifies critical pitfalls to avoid in the assessment process and presents useful methods for developing an assessment framework for multiple operational contexts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2014
- Accession Number
- ADA610118
Entities
People
- Christopher Edward Paul
- Dan Madden
- Jan Osburg
- Leslie A. Payne
- Lisa Saum-manning
Organizations
- RAND Corporation