Military Review English Edition March-April 2016 | Page 64

be replicated by FORSCOM and the geographic combatant commanders (GCCs).

the U.S. government reevaluate the role of development
assistance. While the United States tends to emphasize
security cooperation and military assistance in dealing
Military Operations in
with the security problems that undergoverned territories
Undergoverned Areas
generate, the DOD should also strive to extend the reach
Security cooperation and support to governance are of government into the targeted regions.
not new Army concepts. In 1961, the secretary of the
A second recommendation made by the study is to
Army tasked Brig. Gen. Richard G. Stillwell to study
promote competent government practices.8 Providing
activities in underdeveloped countries short of declared expert advice to officials on how to coordinate their
war. The study’s focus was how the U.S. government
actions across departments and minimize bureaucratic
should support political stability, conduct paramilitary
competition is an important step in strengthening pubactivities in support of counterinsurgency, and conduct lic-sector capabilities. Joint doctrine also outlines nation
foreign internal defense (FID) in underdeveloped areas. assistance and humanitarian-civic actions as tasks that
Stillwell concluded that, in an environment possessing
strengthen public-sector capabilities.9 Finally, the RAND
characteristics of ineffective governance, activities constudy found that policy prescriptions aimed at addressing
ducted by U.S. Army personnel would only be effective
ungovernability must also reduce a region’s conduciveness
if done in cooperation with all the elements of national
to terrorist activities, for example, building the capacity of
power.6 In the current environment, regionally aligned
the local military and counterterrorism forces.10
forces must remain closely synchronized with the DOS
Building military capacity is a task that the DOD
mission in order to be effective.
performs in many locations around the globe and appears
In 2007, the RAND Corporation published a study
to be the focus of regionally aligned forces. Joint doctrine
on military operations in areas lacking effective govercalls for the use of FID and counterterrorism activities to
nance. This study, titled “Ungoverned Territories,” defines
address a region’s conduciveness for terrorist activities.11
ungovernability and provides three recommendations
However, this study emphasizes that while FID may
for how the United States may address current threats
enhance the capability of the government, it must be conin undergoverned territories.7 It first recommends that
ducted in conjunction with other programs that address
the perceived ungovernability.12 This suggests that FID
should expand its scope from
merely training foreign militaries to training governance
organizations; this requires
greater synchronization with
the DOS.
Regarding the future
operating environment, the
AOC proposed that the Army,
with unified action partners, is
equipped to win in the future
complex world. To accomplish
this, the AOC describes the
need for regionally engaged
Army forces to shape security
(Photo by Tech. Sgt. Ian Dean, U.S. Air Force)
environments.13 However,
Capt. Clemeunt Douglass, team chief of Team 0733, Company C, 407th Civil Affairs Battalion, listens
the description of the threats
as a Djibouti navy sailor briefs his leadership on a mock assessment during the Civil-Military Coopercreated
by ineffective govation Training Course 11 December 2014 at Bat Hill 2, Arta, Djibouti. Members of the Djibouti army
and navy participated in several scenarios to test what they had learned in the classroom.
ernance, along with the U.S.
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March-April 2016  MILITARY REVIEW