Improving Cooperation Among Nations in Irregular Warfare Analysis

1.  Purpose

The purpose of the Improving Cooperation Among Nations in Irregular Warfare workshop (IW Workshop) is two-fold:

2.  Background

The 2005 National Defense Strategy (NDS) identified the complex array of security challenges facing the United States as traditional, irregular, catastrophic, and disruptive challenges.  The NDS emphasized improving proficiency against irregular challenges.  Subsequently, the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) reinforced the shift of emphasis in US defense planning from major conventional combat operations to multiple irregular, asymmetric operations.  The QDR emphasized that US military forces are not as well organized, trained, educated, or equipped to conduct protracted Irregular Warfare (IW).

The terms used to describe the activities, types of conflicts, and their relationships to each other are derived from the IW JOC and are subsequently US centric.  In order to ensure a uniformed understanding of the terms and their operational connotations, the first session of the IW Workshop will focus on harmonizing the terms among participants.

Successful Irregular Warfare operations are collaboration dependent.  DoD must work closely with other federal agencies and key allies and partners to achieve their mission.  The Building Partnership Capacity (BPC) Roadmap, May 2006, describes objectives and efforts to improve the collective capabilities and performance of the Department of Defense and its partners.  The BPC Roadmap directed DoD to work with or through others whenever possible by enabling allied and partner capabilities, building their capacity and developing collaborative mechanisms to share the decisions, risks and responsibilities of today’s complex challenges.

The scope of this workshop has been deconflicted with other 2007-2008 workshops on deterrence and inter-agency operations.  Both of those workshops are primarily focused on pre-conflict or “Phase 0” activities.  Again, the IW Workshop focuses on military conflict or “Phases 2-5” of DoD’s campaign planning construct. 

3. Sponsor Interest

OSD PA&E is the overall lead for this workshop, although all of the MORS Sponsors have expressed strong support.  The idea of the workshop came from two sources: discussions at US Pacific Command’s Asia Military Operations Research Symposium, and a proposal by Karsten Engelmann from the Center for Army Analysis.  The concept for the workshop was initially briefed at a meeting of the MORS Sponsors February 1, 2007.

4. Approach

The workshop will be organized into four working groups and one synthesis group.  Each working group session will be focused on a single aspect of Irregular Warfare. The four focus areas are:

Two of the working groups (COIN and SSTRO), will have sub-working groups conducting a practical exercise using a war game to develop an understanding of how analytically supported wargames can assess aspects of military operations.  Participants will be organized into cells (e.g. Red, Blue, Green, and White), assessing an unclassified scenario. During the first day each sub-working groups’ members will participate in a wargame specific training exercise. On the second day, participants will play at least two turns of the game, opportunities for players to discuss wargaming process, adjudication methods, and tools will be provided. The third day will focus on summarizing insights derived from the practical exercise.  The OSD PA&E Simulation and Analysis Center will host the COIN wargame. The Joint Staff J8 Warfighting Analysis Division will host the SSTRO wargame in collaboration with the UK Dstl. 

A short plenary session Thursday afternoon will conclude the conference at which working groups will share insights from the research presented. Friday morning, work group leaders will meet for a wrap up session and formalize responsibilities to document the conference.

As previously mentioned, the IW Workshop will include a Synthesis Group charged with integrating insights across groups and support the development of overall workshop recommendations. The Synthesis Group will also present a summary of its perspectives at the final plenary Thursday.

5. Pre-conference session

6.  Workshop Planning and WG Chairs

Proponent:  Mr. Jim Bexfield, FS (OSD PA&E), james.bexfield@osd.mil, 703-695-7945.

Program Chairs:

Workshop Advisors:

Administrative Coordinators: 

MORS Bulldog: Steve Stevens

WG 2 –Combating Terrorism
Chair: LTC Neil Fitzpatrick, SOCOM
Co-Chair: Preston Dunlap
Recorder: TBD

According to the US National Strategy, Combating Terrorism, involves the application of all instruments of national power and influence to kill or capture the terrorists; deny them safe haven and control of any nation; prevent them from gaining access to WMD; render potential terrorist targets less attractive by strengthening security; and cut off their sources of funding and other resources they need to operate and survive. This working group will explore the challenges associated with analyzing the combating terrorism aspect of Irregular Warfare and identify potential opportunities to bridge these analytic gaps.

This working group will explore the SSTRO aspect of Irregular Warfare. A sub-working group will focus on the implementation and understanding of a SSTRO wargame. The group will develop hands-on experience with and evaluation of a maturing SSTRO wargaming model and develop insights about the use of computer assisted wargames to develop analytic insights for senior leaders. The group will produce a summation of insights and comparison of this approach with similar efforts from attendees’ home organizations.

WG 4 – Maritime Security Operations  
Chair: Ms. Robbin Beall, USN N81
Co-Chair: Mr. Don Theune, USPACOM J8
Recorder: TBD

This working group will focus in three areas: (1) Maritime theater security cooperation, (2) Protection of shipping and critical infrastructure, and (3) Humanitarian assistance.  For each topic, overview presentations will initially describe the mission area. Presentations and group discussion will then focus on metrics, data, tools, and opportunities for future collaborative analysis.

Sponsor/Service Reps

7. Attendance

8. Deliverables

Four products will be generated from the workshop:

An Executive Summary will be presented to the sponsors at the next JADM Steering Committee meeting subsequent to the workshop.  The summary will address the workshop objectives and recommendations.  This will be in the form of a report and a scripted briefing that, for each work group, lists:

9. Milestones

10. Administrative

Name: Improving Cooperation among Nations in Irregular Warfare Analysis

Dates: 10-13 December 2007

Location: Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA

Fees: Entire Workshop (11 -13 December) – US Federal Government – Member - $575; Non-Member - $640. Non-US Government – Member - $675; Non-Member - $750.  Fees for one-day only (11 December) are:  Members - $325; Non-Members - $375. 

Classification: The Workshop will be unclassified.  Presentations with FOUO and/or limited distribution markings will not be distributed electronically or made available as a printed copy to the general audience.  Distribution of these materials will be determined by the originator.  Post workshop products such as the PHALANX article, executive outbrief, and MORSS presentation will be cleared for public release and may be posted on the website.

11. Agenda 

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