Military Review English Edition March-April 2014 | Page 25

Evil on the Horizon

(AP Photo)

A Perspective on the Department of State’s
Role in Securing Man-Portable Air Defense
Systems in Syria
Maj. Matthew M. McCreary, U.S. Army

P

OLICYMAKERS IN WASHINGTON, far removed from the soldiers and marines
fighting for their lives in conflicts half a world away, rarely understand the impact
their decisions have on our nation’s military men and women. Further, and as many of
us know all too well, the complexity of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, combined with
myriad transnational challenges, reveals that the military element of power alone is not
sufficient to achieve national security objectives.
To help remedy the problem, the Command and General Staff College (CGSC) created the
Interagency Fellowship Program to familiarize officers with the other elements of national
power. One goal of the fellowship, which enables mid-career officers to participate directly
in the U.S. interagency process by assigning them to positions within federal departments or
agencies, is to improve national security by synchronizing missions, promoting cohesiveness,
and ensuring unity of effort with Army and interagency players.1 During my assignment as an
interagency fellow, I served in the Department of State with the Interagency Man-Portable
Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) Task Force. MANPADS—often referred to as shoulderfired missiles—pose a particular threat to both military and civil aviation. In the hands of
terrorists, MANPADS could be used to cripple the civil aviation industry in particular and
the global economy in general. To prevent such contingencies, the Interagency MANPADS
Task Force was constituted in 2007 by order of the Deputies Committee of the National
Security Staff. The task force oversees implementation of the International Aviation Threat
Reduction Plan and integrates all elements of national power to reduce or eliminate terrorist
access to MANPADS and other standoff weapons.

Maj. Matthew M. McCreary, U.S. Army, recently served as an interagency fellow in the U.S. Department of
State. He holds a B.A. from Ohio State University and an M.P.P. from George Washington University. He has
deployed twice to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan. He is currently serving in the Commander’s Initiatives Group,
ISAF Joint Command in Kabul, Afghanistan.
MILITARY REVIEW

March-April 2014

23