Policy Trends in Civil Affairs
The state of Civil Affairs in 2014 should also be
considered in the context of wider policy trends of the
recent era: expanded engagement in civil dimension
operations and increased American reliance on civilian agencies and contractors in stability operations.
American military actions abroad from 1989 onward
broadened to include humanitarian intervention, not
only to stabilize relationships between states, but also
to protect people within them. Global human security
norms emerged that expanded definitions of security
and its relationship to development. New national,
international, non-governmental and even for-profit
agencies came forward to address the challenges of
security and development.
In 2005, Department of Defense Directive 3000.05
defined stability operations – missions in which Civil
Affairs are key contributors – as “civilian and military
activities.” DoD 3000.05, later affirmed in a 2009 DoD
Instruction, defined stability operations “a core U.S.
military mission” that the military should be prepared
to conduct “throughout all phases of conflict” and
across the range of military operations, including in
combat and non-combat environments.” This message
addressed a debate on the American way of that had
simmered at least since Vietnam, but did not point to
a clear way forward for the CA community.
In theory, the U.S. Army’s Civil Affairs force structure has resided primarily in the Reserves to develop
and sustain specialized civilian skills that could be
drawn upon as needed. However, intense demand for
CA forces after 2003 showed problems with the system of functional specialty concentrations among CA
personnel. The intense demand for CA generalists be-
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