Small Wars Journal

AIWFC SITREP

Mon, 07/18/2011 - 8:53pm
US Army Irregular Warfare Fusion Cell SITREP

From the Director

The AIWFC is a new Army Organization which the Army recently started to integrate the various components of IW, in particular to benefit both General Purpose Forces and SOF who are called to conduct IW tasks and missions mutually.

The central idea behind the AIWFC is to have a repository of expertise in key IW functions and from which important actions are coordinated and implemented that benefit the force, particularly those that affect doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leader development, personnel, and facilities. The IW Fusion Cell has a small, permanent structural network of on-site subject matter experts in the IW functions that utilizes larger, established communities (both formal and informal) to reach out to gain further expertise, collaboration, and insight into the doctrine, history, and application of IW.

The Combined Arms Center constructed the AIWFC this year in what the Army calls a—resourced informed|| way. In other words, it did not get millions of new dollars from the Department of the Army to organize yet another new office. Instead, CAC looked across its own organization and took advantage of existing expertise in IW and brought them together under one roof. It also called on other Army organizations to participate by establishing permanent liaison officers within the AIWFC. These liaison officers have functional expertise in IW and also have direct ties to their organizational higher headquarters for reachback support and additional subject matter expertise. AIWFC mission accomplishment is also helped by its immediate higher headquarters, the Mission Command Center of Excellence, which develops capabilities that advance both the art and science of mission command. To learn more about the Army IWFC, see this link in the Fort Leavenworth Lamp.

This SITREP may look familiar, since it is adopted from what we used to send each month from the Army COIN Center. The intent is the same -- to share information, but our horizon-level has been raised to include other aspects of irregular warfare. Let us know what you think.

Colonel Chad Clark