Secret Weapon: High-value Target Teams as an Organizational Innovation - Iraq, Afghanistan, Taliban, al-Qaeda, Petraeus, Odierno, The Surge in Iraq, SOF, Tommy Franks, Task Force Freedom in Mosul

Nonfiction, History, Military
Cover of the book Secret Weapon: High-value Target Teams as an Organizational Innovation - Iraq, Afghanistan, Taliban, al-Qaeda, Petraeus, Odierno, The Surge in Iraq, SOF, Tommy Franks, Task Force Freedom in Mosul by Progressive Management, Progressive Management
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Progressive Management ISBN: 9781310293603
Publisher: Progressive Management Publication: November 26, 2014
Imprint: Smashwords Edition Language: English
Author: Progressive Management
ISBN: 9781310293603
Publisher: Progressive Management
Publication: November 26, 2014
Imprint: Smashwords Edition
Language: English

This study argues that interagency teams were a major catalyst in turning around the Iraq War, and that they will disappear from America's arsenal unless the knowledge base supporting the innovation can be secured. Most explanations credit the dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq between 2007 and 2008 to new U.S. leadership, the surge in U.S. forces, and/or U.S. financial support to Sunni tribal leaders. In contrast, we argue that the United States employed an underappreciated organizational innovation—interagency teams—to put insurgent clandestine organizations on the defensive and give population security measures a chance to take effect.

By the end of 2004, Special Operations Forces (SOF) were using interagency high-value target teams in Iraq that were tactically successful—even awe-inspiring—but they were not making a strategic difference. They would hit a cell and it would reconstitute, and sometimes inadvertent collateral damage would occur that alienated the local population. Meanwhile, Army commanders in Mosul, Tal Afar, and Ramadi demonstrated that the insurgency could be beaten with organizations and tactics capable of conducting classic counterinsurgency warfare. They targeted insurgents and terrorists with sufficient discrimination to put them on the defensive, while population-centric security measures and influence operations pacified the broader population. The SOF and Army commanders used a kind of collaborative warfare that involved three separate innovations, each of which required interagency collaboration and all of which ultimately had to merge into a unified approach.

The first innovation was network-based targeting. This meant charting the clandestine terrorist and insurgent cells and their immediate supporters in order to attack them, but also using all-source intelligence to reveal the local environment, its social networks, and key decisionmakers and their motivations. The second innovation was the fusion of improved all-source intelligence with operational capability. Having intelligence and operations working together in common space on a sustained basis produced persistent surveillance, improved discrimination, and better decisionmaking. The third innovation was the integration of counterterrorist and counterinsurgency efforts and the proliferation of this model. All three innovations—net-worked-based targeting, fusion of intelligence and operations, and counterterrorist-counterinsurgency integration—required unprecedented collaboration between diverse departments and agencies and between SOF and conventional forces. Together, these innovations set the stage for the dramatic reversal of the security situation in Iraq in 2007.

Executive Summary * Introduction * Interagency Coordination and Cross-functional Teams * Experimentation with Cross-functional Teams in Afghanistan * Top-down Emphasis on Interagency Teams in Iraq * Bottom-up Experimentation with Interagency Teams in Iraq * Key Variables in Interagency High-value Target Team Performance * Interagency High-value Target Teams During and After the Surge * Decline and Atrophy * Observations * Conclusion * Notes

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This study argues that interagency teams were a major catalyst in turning around the Iraq War, and that they will disappear from America's arsenal unless the knowledge base supporting the innovation can be secured. Most explanations credit the dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq between 2007 and 2008 to new U.S. leadership, the surge in U.S. forces, and/or U.S. financial support to Sunni tribal leaders. In contrast, we argue that the United States employed an underappreciated organizational innovation—interagency teams—to put insurgent clandestine organizations on the defensive and give population security measures a chance to take effect.

By the end of 2004, Special Operations Forces (SOF) were using interagency high-value target teams in Iraq that were tactically successful—even awe-inspiring—but they were not making a strategic difference. They would hit a cell and it would reconstitute, and sometimes inadvertent collateral damage would occur that alienated the local population. Meanwhile, Army commanders in Mosul, Tal Afar, and Ramadi demonstrated that the insurgency could be beaten with organizations and tactics capable of conducting classic counterinsurgency warfare. They targeted insurgents and terrorists with sufficient discrimination to put them on the defensive, while population-centric security measures and influence operations pacified the broader population. The SOF and Army commanders used a kind of collaborative warfare that involved three separate innovations, each of which required interagency collaboration and all of which ultimately had to merge into a unified approach.

The first innovation was network-based targeting. This meant charting the clandestine terrorist and insurgent cells and their immediate supporters in order to attack them, but also using all-source intelligence to reveal the local environment, its social networks, and key decisionmakers and their motivations. The second innovation was the fusion of improved all-source intelligence with operational capability. Having intelligence and operations working together in common space on a sustained basis produced persistent surveillance, improved discrimination, and better decisionmaking. The third innovation was the integration of counterterrorist and counterinsurgency efforts and the proliferation of this model. All three innovations—net-worked-based targeting, fusion of intelligence and operations, and counterterrorist-counterinsurgency integration—required unprecedented collaboration between diverse departments and agencies and between SOF and conventional forces. Together, these innovations set the stage for the dramatic reversal of the security situation in Iraq in 2007.

Executive Summary * Introduction * Interagency Coordination and Cross-functional Teams * Experimentation with Cross-functional Teams in Afghanistan * Top-down Emphasis on Interagency Teams in Iraq * Bottom-up Experimentation with Interagency Teams in Iraq * Key Variables in Interagency High-value Target Team Performance * Interagency High-value Target Teams During and After the Surge * Decline and Atrophy * Observations * Conclusion * Notes

More books from Progressive Management

Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Documents: Air Force C-38 Courier Aircraft - Operations Procedures, Aircrew Evaluation Criteria, Aircrew Training Flying Operations by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Manuals: The Targeting Process - Field Manual 3-60 - Principles and Philosophy, Dynamic Targeting (Professional Format Series) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The American Civil War Encyclopedia: Sweeping Account of All Aspects of the War Between the States - Army and Navy History and Timelines, Campaigns and Battles, Intelligence, Militias, Unique Stories by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century Biomass and Energy Crops: Feedstocks, Biochemical Conversion, Cellulosic Ethanol, Biodiesel, Processing Research, Sugars, Biorefineries, Agricultural Residue, Corn Dry Mill, Syngas by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Controlling the Population: A Study of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group - Counterinsurgency, Vietnam, Mobile Strike Forces, Strategic Hamlet Program, Viet Cong, North Vietnamese Army by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Brazil's Rise to Global Power: Bolsa Familia, Neoliberal Reform and Trade Partnerships, Military Capabilities, Defense Spending, Soft Power Projection, Role in International Organizations by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 2015 Special Operations Forces Reference Manual, Fourth Edition: SOF Attributes, Precision Strike, USSOCOM Structure, Africa, Europe, Korea, Pacific, Command and Control, Ranger Missions, SOAR by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Military Cyber Attacks and America's Vulnerable Nuclear Weapons and Defenses: DoD Task Force Report on Resilient Military Systems and the Advanced Cyber Threat by Progressive Management
Cover of the book American Military Strategy During the Moro Insurrection in the Philippines 1903 - 1913: Leonard Wood, Tasker Bliss, John J. Pershing, Philippine Revolutionary Government (PRG), Philippine Constabulary by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Smell of Kerosene: A Test Pilot's Odyssey - NASA Research Pilot Stories, XB-70 Tragic Collision, M2-F1 Lifting Body, YF-12 Blackbird, Apollo LLRV Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (NASA SP-4108) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Osama bin Laden: Letters from Abbottabad - Complete Declassified Internal al-Qaida Communications and Analysis, Historical Perspective and Implications for American Policy (bin Ladin and al Qaeda) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Documents: Air Force B-52 Bomber - Operations Procedures, Aircrew Evaluation Criteria, Aircrew Training Flying Operations by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Saudi Arabia: Modernity, Stability, and the Twenty-First Century Monarchy - Wahhabism, Saudi Political and Cultural History, Ibn Saud, Patronage State, Oil Economy, King Abdullah, Contemporary Reality by Progressive Management
Cover of the book United States Earthquake Early Warning System: How Theory and Analysis Can Save America Before the Big One Happens - Advocating Implementation of the ShakeAlert Warning System on the Seismic Network by Progressive Management
Cover of the book With Marines in Operation Provide Comfort: Humanitarian Operations in Northern Iraq, 1991 - Kurds, Saddam Hussein, Incirlik Air Base, Camp Sommers, Zakho, Gallant Provider, Kurdish Relief Efforts by Progressive Management
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy