U.S. Capabilities to Manage Irregular Conflicts in the 21 Century

Defying common wisdom, most security challenges in the world today are not random, unrelated happenings. Rather, they are part of a conflict environment in which a burgeoning number of armed groups and other non-state actors, sometimes aided by authoritarian states, will constitute the predominant and persistent sources of instability. Clear patterns can be seen shaping the global security environment and they will continue to threaten peace and security for at least the next quarter of a century.

Dr. Roy Godson, Dr. Richard Shultz, and former Director of Global Outreach for the National Security Council Kevin McCarty will discuss these patterns and highlight key findings and recommendations from a new report--Adapting America's Security Paradigm and Security Agenda. The report was produced with the assistance of senior security practitioners from democracies around the world under the auspices of the National Strategy Information Center. The authors argue that the United States needs a set of tools and skills suited to the world as it is and as it is likely to evolve, not as it was. Among them are: 

• A reoriented and retrained military better able to deal with irregular challenges;
• More effective intelligence collection, analysis, and exploitation derived from local knowledge in conflict zones;
• Military and civilian teams, comprised of well-trained professionals to assist indigenous leaders, to bring stability, development, and rule of law principles to local areas;
• Strategic communication that supports these goals; and
• A corps of political entrepreneurs, civilian and military, skilled at building coalitions at the local, national, and transnational levels to prevent and prevail in irregular conflicts.

Panelists:

Dr. Richard Shultz, Director, International Security Studies Program at the Fletcher School
Dr. Roy Goodson, Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University
Kevin McCarty, Former National Clandestine Service Officer and Former Director of Global Outreach, U.S. National Security Council

Moderator: 

Thomas Sanderson, Deputy Director, CSIS Transnational Threats Project

Please RSVP to TNT@csis.org by 5 PM on May 11