US Army Releases Comprehensive Stability Operations Manual

Obama’s plans for the Afghanistan/Pakistan theatre of Al Qaeda counterinsurgency operations was followed on Friday by the Brookings Institute presentation of the US Military’s comprehensive ”Soft Power” field manual for how to provide a comprehensive method to bring all the Governmental, Non Governmental and allied actors together with Civilian Response Teams to immediately begin the coordination of a stabilizing methodology in a conflict zone of operations.

Focusing on the 3 C’s – Coordination, Collaboration and Cooperation - the efforts of Lt. Colonel William Caldwell and his staff in Leavenworth Kansas have released an update of the manual known as FM 3-07  Stability Operations: A Comprehensive Approach to the 21st Century.

The Brookings Institute, in association with the University of Michigan, made the release possible.  The question is, will Congress act to make the plan operational in the SW Asia theatre. The field Manual expects alot in terms of political realities at home and abroad, but its purpose is to be dynamic and based on adaptation.  It expects increased funding and political pull from the Obama Administration to guarantee it a 10% increase in its civilian partners, a doubling of Foreign Affairs budgets as well as the stomach to allow intergovernmental agency association at the ground level.

The purpose of the new field manual is to provide a bottom up approach to a comprehensive stability building in conflict zones.  Provincial Reconstruction is a touchy matter in areas like Afghanistan, where the panel emphasized that the people respond better to a ground up capacity building methods rather than to a top down process of nation building.  The focus on transition amid a secure environment is a vital step in the systematic revamping of a full cycle of agricultural reform away from the poppy.

Little explanation was made in Friday’s Brookings Institute presentation about the process of carrot, stick, carrot diplomacy that the State Department would employ; however, it was noted that the military intervention in the region would not endure throughout the long term creation of a viable political environment in which local solutions could be fostered in order to broaden capacity through governance, maintenance and security. 

Indeed, the military does not define ”victory” in the comprehensive approach, preferring to focus on the definition of “success” from the angle of capacity building from the bottom up rather than US Involvement from the top down.

Lieutenant Colonel William Caldwell, Undersecretary of Defense Michelle Flournoy, Janine Davidson and Carlos Pascual who headed the effort at Brookings came together on Friday and put forward a united face on the aggressive quantum leap forward in joint and cross-agency coordination. 

The weaknesses of the manual are obvious – there is no model available for generating a desire amongst the populous for transitioning from an illegal narco crop that is profitable and another that is legal.  There is no counter for the Rule of Law anomalies when countering a Shariah Law based society that considers the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights as superceding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in which a separation of powers is foreign as in the Talibani sphere of influence.  There is absolutely no plan available for coordinating Army activity in areas like Gaza or Lebanon in which Relief NGOs like UNRWA are terrorist-infiltrated entities.  These problems lurk larger than elephants in the room, when considering the road ahead that the US Military will attempt to travel.   In addition, there is no tactical or strategic method for overcoming the Arab and Muslim perception politics which decry any attempt at foreign tutelege and consider all US presence in the region an incitable offense of occupation that is unacceptable to the sensibilities of the local cultures we may be attempting to help.  

But above all, the most obvious problem is implementation of the policy.  For instance, in Afghanistan, with 4,000 troops headed to the region in an Advisory capacity, an entire division has to be trained for the task and sent to Advise and Assist the military rather than operate as a combat ready brigade, and come May, reports will be forthcoming as to the necessary moves that need to be taken. 

More or less, the Stability Operations Manual is only designed to develop regional stakeholders as operations advance on the faith that the right solutions will offer themselves in due time as the ingenuity of the explorations and privatization of the effort finds paths we do not yet see.  Certainty is found only in the nature of the term “comprehensive” as the mission, itself, creates unity of purpose from all players. 

Gary H. Johnson, Jr. (3/27/09, 8:51amEST)

The following are notes from the internet on the topic…

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2008/10/mil-081009-afps09.htm
New Army Operations Manual Leverages ‘Soft Power’ Assets
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2008 – The U.S. Army’s new “how-to” manual on stability operations is a unique document that embraces joint effort as a reflection of the realities of a 21st-century world, a senior U.S. military officer said yesterday.
Field Manual 3-07, titled, “Stability Operations,” was developed from 10 months of collaboration among Army planners, the Defense Department, the State Department and military allies, Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth, Kan., told reporters at the Foreign Press Center here.
The CAC at Leavenworth is the Army’s “brain trust,” where it educates and develops future military leaders and develops much of its operational doctrine.
“As we crafted this doctrine, we did so with great respect for the roles and missions of our respective organizations,” Caldwell explained. “It’s critical that we each preserve our proven core competencies, not only those of us in the military, but [also] those outside the military.”
Lessons learned from current overseas U.S. military operations played an important role in the development of the new field manual, the three-star general said.
“We set out to revise the Army’s stability operations doctrine, drawing on the experience of the practitioners that are out there in the field, doing it day-to-day today, in both Iraq and Afghanistan,” Caldwell said.
Today’s 21st-century, globalized world presents very different challenges than existed in the past, Caldwell said. The emergence of trans-national terrorism as a global threat, he said, highlighted the necessity for a different approach in conducting stability operations.
Fragile states susceptible to takeover or influence by global terrorists “pose the greatest threat to our national security,” Caldwell pointed out. Under this scenario, he said, regional conflicts could quickly flare into international crises.
x“So, the more that we as a world, an international body, can collectively come together to find solutions for challenges that are out there, the better it will be,” Caldwell said.
In fact, foreign military officers from Turkey, Belgium, Germany, India, Pakistan, South Africa and other countries provided input and comments for the new manual, Caldwell said.
“If we’re going to win the peace, it requires stability operations to be understood, embraced and worked in a comprehensive manner that involves not just the United States military, but all of our friends, our allies,” he said.
Stability operations doctrine promulgated in the new field manual, Caldwell said, is based on five principles: building partner capacity; governance, or strengthening institutions of legitimate governments; establishing and maintaining the rule of law; fostering economic growth, and forging a strong sense of national unity.
“It is essentially chartering a path from violent conflict to stable, lasting peace by providing a road map to the future while studying critical waypoints for the conflicts of today,” Caldwell explained.
Military power alone cannot achieve successful stability operations in the 21st century, Caldwell said. It’s also necessary, he said, to incorporate “the soft power capabilities our military has in support of other instruments of national and international power – something very vital to an effective strategy at this very crucial time in our history.”
The human element, or how to provide societal, political and economic stability for populations affected by conflict, should be a primary focus factor during stability operations, Caldwell said. Elements of soft power, he said, include the diplomatic capabilities of the U.S. State Department, as well as the civil-economic expertise possessed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Institute for Peace, and other U.S. and international agencies.
The new field manual “is a powerful force for change,” Caldwell said, that says military and non-military agencies must blend capabilities and share responsibility to effect successful stability operations.
“This manual calls together those experiences into a doctrine built on unity of effort, a comprehensive, collaborative and cooperative approach that forges a shared vision of a common goal,” Caldwell said.
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/Repository/FM307/FM3-07.pdf
download free copy of the original field manual for definition of comprehensive and a look at how interagency operations with the US Military, NGOs and Civilian Responders will operate in tandem to create an operations environment with immediate tangible results, regardless of the challenge.

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2009/0327_stability.aspx
A Foreign Policy and 21st Century Defense Initiative Event
FM 3-07 Stability Operations: A Comprehensive Approach to the 21st Century
U.S. Military, Foreign Policy
The latest Army doctrine, FM 3-07, reflects a long journey by the American military and a series of hard won lessons learned by the post-Cold War generation. It underscores a recognition that the U.S. military will increasingly be called upon to help bring peace and order to societies under stress. The process by which the manual was written highlights the understanding that the military alone cannot succeed in these challenging environments, but must coordinate efforts with civilian partners through a comprehensive approach toward a shared objective. FM 3-07 fills a profound intellectual void by describing the complex 21st century landscape and articulating the military’s unique role in bringing order to chaos. The manual’s publication, at a time when the U.S. military is already stretched thin by commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond, has generated heated debate and raised almost as many questions as it answers
On March 27, the 21st Century Defense Initiative at Brookings will host the launch of the latest version of the Army Field Manual, FM 3-07 Stability Operations. Brookings Nonresident Fellow Janine Davidson, assistant professor at George Mason University’s School of Public Policy, will moderate a discussion featuring Michèle Flournoy, under secretary of Defense for Policy; Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell, commander of the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth; and Carlos Pascual, vice president and director of Foreign Policy at Brookings.

After the program, panelists will take audience questions.

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