CCO: PRISM Vol. 1 Issue 3

PRISM Vol 1. Issue 3

The Center for Complex Operations is pleased to announce the release of Volume 1, Issue 3 of PRISM, the journal of complex operations. PRISM is available for online viewing and download here.

This issue's articles include:

J. Brian Atwood: Elevating Development Assistance
The perceived importance of development has changed of late as political leaders have begun to relate our security challenges directly or indirectly to the condition of poverty. It helped to have a conservative President introduce the concept of the “3Ds”—defense, diplomacy, and development—as integral to our national security strategy. Our defense and diplomacy missions are overwhelmed with crises. Yet we devote few resources to prevention, which is what development is all about. The challenge today is to organize the 3Ds to more effectively address the crises while investing meaningful resources in an effective and focused prevention institution centered at USAID and State

Laurie R. Blank and Amos N. Guiora: Updating the Commander's Toolbox: New Tools for Operationalizing the Law of Armed Conflict
When those who are fighting (insurgents, guerrillas, terrorists) melt into the civilian population and persons who appear to be civilians periodically engage in hostilities, determining who is a legitimate target becomes nearly impossible. Even if commanders respect the law, they will be hard pressed to apply it in new warfare if it is not relevant—and if it is exacerbating challenges rather than facilitating solutions. We therefore examine how to distinguish between innocent civilians and legitimate targets and develop more relevant and specific categories to define the many varieties of the latter. With these tools, com- manders can train troops to make the critical determination of whom and when they can shoot and whom they have to protect.

Robert Polk and Merriam Mashatt: From Deploying Individuals to Deploying Departments
This article notes that while these past and current initiatives improve whole-of-government approaches to contingency operations, they focus on preparing the forward-deploying elements. Although critically important, a forward element is only a fraction of the overall requirements of a successful support concept. True whole-of-government efforts can only be fully realized if equal emphasis is placed on preparing and mobilizing entire departments in the rear as well as the relatively few individuals sent forward. Complete departments as well as deploying individuals must accept that both represent parts of the whole.

Plus a primer on Yemen from Amb. Barbara Bodine, an interview with with Gen. Peter Pace, and a CCO report on USDA in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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