Small Wars Journal

Pentagon to Outline Shift in War Planning Strategy

Tue, 06/23/2009 - 5:12am
Pentagon to Outline Shift in War Planning Strategy - Thom Shanker, New York Times.

The Pentagon will adopt a new strategy that for the first time orders the military to anticipate that future conflicts will include a complex mix of conventional, set-piece battles and campaigns against shadowy insurgents and terrorists, according to senior officials.

The shift is intended to assure that the military is prepared to deal with a spectrum of possible threats, including computer network attacks, attempts to blind satellite positioning systems, strikes by precision missiles and roadside bombs, and propaganda campaigns waged on television and the Internet. The new strategy has broad implications for training, troop deployment, weapons procurement and other aspects of military planning.

In officially embracing hybrid warfare, the Pentagon would be replacing a second pillar of long-term planning. Senior officials disclosed in March that the review was likely to reject a historic premise of American strategy- that the nation need only to prepare to fight two major wars at a time...

More at The New York Times.