November 6, 2022 | The Hill

Defense Department needs to capitalize on historic opportunity

November 6, 2022 | The Hill

Defense Department needs to capitalize on historic opportunity

Excerpt

The Department of Defense (DOD) may be facing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix a critical gap in its national security arsenal. Congress has authorized the creation of an institution dedicated to the study and research of irregular warfare (IW), and the education of officers and civilian professionals charged with defending against non-standard threats and executing competent IW campaigns and strategies.

Unfortunately, initial indications are that this opportunity created by Congress — which comes at precisely the right moment to prepare the nation for competition in the 21st century, in which IW may play an oversized role — might not be realized.

Lt. Gen. Charles T. Cleveland (Ret.) is an adjunct researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and a senior mentor to the Army War College. Daniel Egel is a senior economist at RAND. Brig. Gen. Russell Howard (Ret.) is a distinguished senior fellow at the Joint Special Operations University and an adjunct faculty member at the Institute for Security Governance. Col. David Maxwell (Ret.)  is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Global Peace Foundation and a senior advisor to the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy. Col. Hy Rothstein (Ret.) is a recently retired faculty member of the Naval Postgraduate School. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not represent the official policy or positions of the DOD or U.S. government. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, non-partisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Issues:

Military and Political Power U.S. Defense Policy and Strategy