The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) hosted a
roundtable discussion at the AUSA Conference and Event Cen-
ter on September 12th 2016 on ‘Peace and Stability: Operating
in a Complex World’. The event opening with a key note
address on the current status of Peace and Stability Operations,
which was then followed by two panels addressing pertinent
issues and challenges for the Peace and Stability Operations
(PSO) community in achieving U.S National objectives.
Peace and Stability operations are a critical part of the
Department of Defense's (DoD's) mission. Promoting stability
in a volatile strategic environment remains one of our nation's
top concerns. Influencing local actors and countering violent
extremism requires the full range of DoD's capabilities integrat-
ed with the other instruments of national power. Stabilization
is not an activity the U.S. military may do, but is an activity the
U.S. military is doing and will continue to do. With this real-
ization, a look at the essential elements of Peace and Stability
operations exhibits clear requirements and demands that shape
the joint force and the Army as the primary land component
force provider.
Current Status of Peace and Stability Operations
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for
Stability and Humanitarian Affairs (SHA) under the Office of
the Secretary of Defense for Policy (OSD)(P), Anne
Witkowsky provided the keynote, which addressed some of the
comments from former Secretary of Defense (SecDef ) Carter
from the September 2016 Peacekeeping (PK) ministerial
meeting in London. PSO is at a challenging moment in this
rapidly chang-ing security environment. While the world
overall has become more prosperous and dynamic, producing
many economic, military, political, social and technological
opportunities, all of these changes created challenges and crises
as well. SecDef Carter addressed this dynamic in five
challenges at the PK ministerial meeting:
1) taking a strong and balanced approach to deterring Rus-
sian aggression, while leaving the door open to work with
Russia where our interests align;
2) building a principled and inclusive security network in
the Asia-Pacific region;
3) strengthening our deterrent and defense forces in the
face of North Korean provocations;
4) checking Iranian aggression in the gulf;
5) and continuing to counter and defeat terrorism in partic-
ular accelerating the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL).
The challenges posed by ISIL illustrates well the potential for
local insurrections to grow into global threats. The factors of
instability are well known, such as threats from violent extremist
organizations and random acts of violence, civil unrest, and in-
ter and intra ethnic conflict. These threats cost the lives of inno-
cent civilians, threaten the stability of the state, and sometimes
brings about state failure. It is still of paramount importance for
DoD to address the challenge of bringing peace and stability to
fragile nations. For peace to last in both pre- and post-conflict
phases of peace operations and effective stabilization activities,
conflict prevention and capacity building strategies are essential
to deter new conflict. Herein lies the opportunity for positive
change. Conflict deterrence and prevention is an opportunity
DoD really should not miss in order to ensure the success of
peace and stability operations.
Peacekeeping Operations have changed over the last 20 years
with 98% of the UN missions operating under Chapter 7 man-
dates. Often these missions start out in ongoing conflict with
harsh physical environments, like Mali, South Sudan and the
Central African Republic, while other missions face a growing
terrorist threat, such as in Mali. All missions are now mandated
to protect civilians, while also recognizing that sexual exploita-
tion and abuse is a major challenge to Peace Operations that
significantly undermines the credibility of a mission.
Stabilization is conducted in highly complex environments,
such as US extended engagements in Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria,
Lebanon and Ukraine. OSD(P) SHA is in the final adjudica-
tion phase of a Stability policy review, which highlights the
requirement to preserve expandable capabilities for conducting
large-scale, long-duration stabilization efforts in Phase 4. This
review emphasizes the optimization of DoD’s defense support
to stabilization, synchronizing defense activities to support or
reinforce civilian stabilization efforts in designated fragile and
conflict affected areas outside the US. Lessons Learned from
the past 15 years in Afghanistan and Iraq are being compiled
into a format translatable into current complex and small-foot-
print operations in places like Syria and Iraq’s fight against the
ISIL. OSD(P) SHA is completing a biennial assessment, which
is conducted from a Combatant Command (COCOM)
perspective, as to whether the COCOM is afforded the
appropriate resources, talent and proc