“Napoleonic Know-How” in an Age of Persistent Engagement
“Napoleonic Know-How” in an Age of Persistent Engagement
by Douglas Batson, Al Di Leonardo, Christopher K. Tucker
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A bevy of prominent national security thinkers have suggested that the US has entered an era of persistent engagement with troubled regions of the world. From this perspective, failing or failed states are likely to lure the US into counter-insurgency (COIN) operations, foreign internal defense, and other modes of irregular warfare for decades to come. The sources of these difficult situations will inevitably vary greatly, from ethnic conflicts to natural resource grabs; predatory kleptocracies to narco-terrorist regimes; proxy wars to religious extremism; and more. Yet all of these situations owe their origins in large part to the absence of the same governance infrastructures that have enabled successful modern states since the days of Napoleon.
Kinetic operations will almost always play a role in achieving conflict termina-tion and establishing some measure of stability. But, too often, field commanders and national security policymakers fail to understand the administrative underpinnings needed to find and fix an elusive enemy, to achieve post conflict “stability, development, peace, and effective local sovereignty,” and to keep insurgencies and the like from forming in the first place.
This paper asserts that a suite of administrative capabilities first mastered by Napoleon, what we call “Napoleonic Know-how,” should be elevated in the considerations of commanders and national security policymakers as they wrestle with courses of action in the engagement of nations and regions of special interest. Only when the US prioritizes the preemptive establishment of such administrative capabilities over post-crisis kinetic action will we know that US foreign policy community is truly interested in conflict prevention and long term stability during this era of persistent engagement.
Download the Full Article: “Napoleonic Know-How” in an Age of Persistent Engagement
Douglas Batson joined the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in 2004. A German and Turkish linguist, he is also a staff member to the Foreign Names Committee of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. He previously worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Justice, and is retired from the U.S. Army Reserve. He holds a Bachelor of Science in geography from Excelsior College, a Master of Education degree from Boston University, and is the author of Registering the Human Terrain: a Valuation of Cadastre, National Defense Intelligence College Press, 2008 (www.ndic.edu/press/10279.htm).
Lieutenant Colonel Di Leonardo is a decorated combat veteran of US Special Operations. He has spent the last five years leading small groups of innovators within US Special Operations Command, providing intelligence data-driven solutions to the challenges in human, social, and cultural behavioral problems and building innovative technology solutions for counterterrorism. Many of his innovation cell’s tools and ideas have been adopted throughout the DoD and the Intelligence Community.
Dr. Christopher K. Tucker thinks and works at the intersection of technology, strategy, geography, and national security. Dr. Tucker manages, Yale House Ventures, a portfolio of technology companies and social ventures across the domains of international affairs, defense/intelligence, and academe. Dr. Tucker serves on a variety of government, private sector, and non-profit boards including the US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation and the Intelligence Task Force of the Defense Science Board.
