Military Organizations for Homeland Defense and Smaller-Scale Contingencies: A Comparative Approach

(Hardback)

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History has often confirmed that it is not superior weapons but superior organizations that are the most effective factor in achieving military success. In light of this consideration, Kevin D. Stringer's new work proposes how the U.S. military can best be restructured to conduct military operations other than war (as they are known in doctrinal terms).. Such reform is central to meeting the demands of homeland defense and smaller-scale contingencies, including nation-building and stability operations. Foreign military formations present models for peace operations, irregular warfare, and other missions, as well as counterterrorism, law enforcement, and border control. The models considered drawn from tactical units in Britain, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Norway, Rhodesia, Russia, and Switzerland are selected as best practice examples for transforming the U.S. Armed Forces for future missions both at home and abroad. The author describes the categories of military operations other than war in the context of force structure requirements for homeland defense and irregular warfare. Each chapter aligns foreign tactical organizations with these military operations to identify appropriate formations to enhance the U.S. Army. This issue of future organizational structure is crucial to the debate over the Quadrennial Defense Review, the Pentagon report to Congress on emerging threats, and the future role of the National Guard. Changes in existing force structure will have significant implications for the conduct of stabilization operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as responses by the active and Reserve components to domestic emergencies.

Reviews

[S]tringer provides a proactive solution to the new security requirements by suggesting that the U.S. Army should focus on developing specific kinds of brigade-size units, not general types, to conduct stability operations.[S]tringer erects a strong foundation for future decisions about how we should transform our Army to face domestic emergencies and emerging threats. His book could become the benchmark for future publications addressing these issues. * Military Review *
Even though the US Army has already been transforming to brigade modular units of action for three years, the ideas in this book are important because Stringer proposes a brigade-centric approach that is quite different. He suggests that specialization and heterogeneity of formations will be more relevant to stability and homeland defence operations. The current Army transformation effort is underpinned by the generalization and homogeneity of like modules. What's more, the best practice proposals in this work are of value not only for American force developers, but also for Western and other militaries which will continue to meet irregular threats, at home and abroad, as this war continues for many years.This book is recommended for both civilian defence experts and military modernizers because it offers a useful and novel benchmarking approach, one that examines several militaries from Europe and elsewhere. * RUSI Journal *
Although the US military is well organized for conventional force-on- force engagements, Stringer argues that it is note organizationally prepared for military operations other than war in places like Grozny, Falluja, New Orleans, and New York City. He provides recommendations for the development of specialized, dedicate, and heterogeneous formations for specific missions under the umbrella of homeland security and smaller-scale contingency operations. His recommendations are based on identification and assessment of comparative units found in other military organizations around the world. * Reference & Research Book News *

Author Bio

Kevin D. Stringer is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College, and has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management, lectured at the Baltic Defence College in Estonia, and has been a Research Visitor at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.