Department of Defense Special Branch
Department of Defense Special Branch:
An Organizational Proposal for Counter-threat Operations in Low Intensity Conflicts
by Matthew R. Modarelli
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The United States military must develop a single, enduring organization for gathering and acting upon threat information in low intensity conflicts. Around the globe, current and future strategic partners of the United States are mired in bloody and relentless internal wars for stability and legitimacy of government. Since the early 19th century, the US has played an important role in irregular warfare abroad and as the government continues to identify and pledge assistance to struggling nations, that role will expand and grow. With a growth in low intensity conflict missions comes an exponential need to adapt and apply successful information gathering methods from past conflicts. For the US, victory in today’s low intensity conflicts will depend largely on our capacity to enable partner nation counter-threat operations (CTO) conducted primarily by indigenous law enforcement agencies. To succeed in current and future low intensity conflicts, an enduring Department of Defense Special Branch dedicated to the complex mission of working with indigenous special police units and security agencies to gather and exploit threat information must be established.
Download the Full Article: DoD Special Branch
Major Matthew R. Modarelli is a special agent with the Department of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI). He has served as a major crimes investigator, joint drug enforcement team member, and counterintelligence field agent and team leader. He has held four separate OSI field command positions including two command tours in Iraq. He has served at Headquarters, United States Air Force, as the Air Staff Counterintelligence (CI) Policy representative. He currently serves as the Counterintelligence Branch Chief for U.S. Africa Command. He has a BA in History from VMI, a Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Bowie State University, MD, a Master of Military Studies from the United States Marine Corps University, Quantico, VA, and is a graduate of the Joint and Combined Warfighting School, Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, VA. His last article on Military Police Operations and Counterinsurgency is currently listed on the Army War College Bibliography for Irregular Warfare.
