The Civil Affairs Association has published its interim report on the annual web-based Symposium on “Civil Affairs: A Force for Winning without Fighting.”
Click here to download the report.
Among the observations and findings that the Interim Civil Affairs Symposium Report captures from the rich, two-day discussion in November involving over 300 participants are:
Integrated deterrence is about winning without fighting and civil-military integration at interagency, interorganizational, and multinationals levels.
Civil affairs has been the de facto joint force of choice to win without fighting by supporting and implementing integrated deterrence not just to “secure the victory” before, during, and after major combat but also in preventing it in the first place. More Army leaders are coming to realize that “secure the victory” does not apply solely to post-conflict situations.
In addition to a military institutional understanding of capabilities like CA more as maneuver forces in integrated deterrence than “force multipliers” or “enablers,” this also requires a universally active sense of CA readiness for strategic competition that only a constant forward regional presence of all CA force types can provide.
Strategic employment of Army 38G government specialists as such is illustrative of a new way to employ storied CA capabilities to shape the competition environment and “secure the victory” well before armed conflict.
The final version of the Report will appear in the 2022-23 Civil Affairs Issue Papers (Vol. 9) in early 2023. Its findings and recommendations will be discussed and distilled at the online Civil Affairs Roundtable in April 2022.
To read the Report, go to the Association website – and while you’re there, make sure your subscription information is updated.
And stay tuned for announcements on the new book, Warrior-Diplomats!