Introduction
On 17 September 2015, a senior group of thought leaders
and innovators on Stability Operations convened at the Navy
League in Arlington, Virginia. The Association of the United
States Army (AUSA) in cooperation with the Peacekeeping and
Stability Operations Institute (PKSOI) discussed the future of
Stability Operations. AUSA President GEN Gordon Sullivan
(ret), provided the opening remarks. The keynote speakers were
LTG Terry Wolff (ret), Director of the Near East South Asia
Center for Strategic Studies, and Anne Witkowsky, Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense, Stability and Humanitarian Affairs. The subsequent panel addressed The Military’s Future in
Stability Operations, with PKSOI Assistant Director William
Flavin chairing. The distinguished panel consisted of Beth Cole,
a Special Advisor at US Institute for Peace, Dr. Janine Davidson,
Senior Fellow for Defense Policy at the Council on Foreign
Relations, BG Kimberly Field (ret), the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations,
MG William Hix, the Director of Strategy, Plans and Policy
of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff Army G-3/5/7, Maj
Gen John Broadmeadow, Vice Director for Logistics, J4 on
the Joint Staff, MG Dan Ammerman, Commanding General
of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations
Command (Airborne), and LTG Kenneth Tovo, Commanding
General, U.S. Army Special Operations Command. The full
findings of the future of stability operations discussion will be
featured in the next edition of AUSA’s Torchbearer. This report
presents the key takeaways.
The AUSA hosted Future of Stability Operations panel
members from left to right, see intro paragraph
power. Since 2006, DoD has continued to cultivate its concepts
and doctrine on SO and IA collaboration. In other words, SO
is not an incidental mission for the Army; it is a core principal,
creating a safe and secure environment.
While DoD has implemented many of the AUSA 2006 Torchbearer concepts, it must continue to incorporate the formative experiences and Best Practices of the past decade. While
contemplating a global engagement strategy in this uncertain
world, DoD must seek optimal solutions for leveraging the
instruments of national power, as we endeavor to synchronize
interagency coordination. One of the principal challenges is
Over the last several decades, the Department of Defense
to determine whether large scale stability operations are the
(DoD) and its civilian interagency (IA) counterparts have frequently collaborated in culturally diverse locations under opera- appropriate means for the strategic environment, and whether
tionally different circumstances, such as: Mogadishu and Baidoa DoD needs to retain sufficient capability to reconstitute the
armed forces for to perform such operations. Capabilities must
in Somalia, Kigali in Rwanda, Monrovia in Liberia, as well as
the more recent long term engagements in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq be aligned with resources, as SO skill sets cannot be generated
and Afghanistan. Uniformed soldiers enabled other government quickly.
agencies to attain development objectives to reestablish civil
security and civil control. The Balkans is a little recognized suc- T