DoD Leaders, Strategists, and Operators in an Era of Persistent Unconventional Challenge

This study argues that the future security environment will be dominated by unconventional threats and challenges that lie outside the boundaries of traditional warfighting. This is the new defense and national security status quo. And the dominant demand on key defense actors in this new status quo will be the active management of persistent unconventional conflict. This requires development of a new strategic competency in defense leaders, strategists, and operators based on seven principal perspectives:

1. The primacy of “social science” over “military science”
2. The limits and alternative uses of military power
3. The need to “mind gaps” in nonmilitary capacity
4. Risk and conflict management vs. risk elimination and conflict resolution
5. The certainty of multiple, on-going conflicts
6. The ability to thrive “in the mud”
7. Cultural and functional sensitivity

To achieve this new strategic competency, the study makes several key policy recommendations: DoD should assess the design, governance, and conduct of defense-wide professional development in light of the rising prominence of unconventional challenges; DoD should build a “center of excellence” for the detailed study of unconventional threats of “purpose” and “context”; and DoD should create an interactive network of key defense actors for the free exchange of ideas on unconventional challenges.