Mark Pomerleau
At the end of September, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby signed off on an updated Department of Defense Instruction for Irregular Warfare, stating that irregular warfare “is a joint force activity conducted by conventional forces and special operations forces.”
The dry language, experts told Breaking Defense, amounts to the formalization of a push the military has been attempting, with limited success, for years.
“It’s not like irregular warfare has been completely ignored by elements of the US [Defense] Department outside of the special operations community. But I think this is helpful as a directive in bringing the applicability of irregular warfare outside of just the special operations community and highlighting its importance in competition for the department at a much bigger level,” Seth Jones, president of the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Breaking Defense.
“When I look at irregular warfare and its utility, for it to be effective, including during the Cold War, it had to be much bigger than just a special operations activity,” said Jones, who previously served in special operations roles. “It really needs to leverage the full conventional might of the US military, as well as the capabilities across other government agencies.”
However, Jones and some former servicemembers with intelligence or irregular warfare experience warned that the “instruction” still may not be enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment