Civil Affairs

Civil Affairs

Within the United States, there is an emergent political consensus on the need to improve civilian capacity for diplomacy and development missions, including stabilization and reconstruction. In the forthcoming CSIS report, The Future of Civil Affairs Forces, the authors call for complementary improvements in military civil affairs capabilities. Civil affairs forces are designed to provide expertise to military commanders in their interface with civil societies, including in the fields of rule of law, economic stability, governance, public health and welfare, infrastructure, and public education and information. Absent concrete improvements in military civil affairs capability, the military may continue to find itself ill-equipped for missions outside its conception of “traditional warfare.”

• Civil Affairs Case Studies
• Study Background