Outplayed: Regaining Strategic Initiative in the Gray Zone
Authored by Mr. Nathan P. Freier, Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Burnett, Colonel William J. Cain Jr., Lieutenant Colonel Christopher D. Compton, Lieutenant Colonel Sean M. Hankard, Professor Robert S. Hume, Lieutenant Colonel Gary R. Kramlich II, Colonel J. Matthew Lissner, Lieutenant Colonel Tobin A. Magsig, Colonel Daniel E. Mouton, Mr. Michael S. Muztafago, Colonel James M. Schultze, Professor John F. Troxell, Lieutenant Colonel Dennis G. Wille.
Brief Synopsis
View the Executive Summary
U.S. competitors pursuing meaningful revision or rejection of the current U.S.-led status quo are employing a host of hybrid methods to advance and secure interests contrary to those of the United States. These challengers employ unique combinations of influence, intimidation, coercion, and aggression to incrementally crowd out effective resistance, establish local or regional advantage, and manipulate risk perceptions in their favor. So far, the United States has not come up with a coherent countervailing approach. It is in this “gray zone”—the awkward and uncomfortable space between traditional conceptions of war and peace—where the United States and its defense enterprise face systemic challenges to U.S. position and authority. Gray zone competition and conflict present fundamental challenges to U.S. and partner security and, consequently, should be important pacers for U.S. defense strategy.
Afghan Interpreters: A Broken Promise in Afghanistan
Afghan Interpreters: A Broken Promise in Afghanistan by Jeanne Shaheen, New York Times
Like many Americans, I am still haunted by images from the last days of the United States’ withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975. Newscasts showed South Vietnamese desperately trying to scale the walls of our embassy in Saigon to board the last helicopter flights out of the country. The fear in their eyes was chilling. Many of these Vietnamese had assisted the American mission. As the North Vietnamese advanced on the city, these people knew that they faced a harsh fate if they were left behind.
For the last three years, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and I have been trying to prevent history from repeating itself, this time in Afghanistan.
Since the American-led invasion in 2001, our service members and diplomats have relied on thousands of Afghans, particularly as interpreters. These are brave men and women who put themselves and their families at risk to help American officials and troops accomplish their missions and return home safely. Implicit in their willingness to help the United States is an agreement that they’ll be protected.
The State Department’s Special Immigrant Visa program allows these Afghans to seek refuge in the United States. These visas are reserved for men and women who undergo rigorous screening and can demonstrate at least two years of faithful and valuable service to the United States.
Yet while nearly 10,000 Afghans are still trying to obtain special visas, Congress is on course to abruptly end the program…