First, Civil Affairs is a national strategic capability that must
be preserved. CA is the major capability the nation has to
transition to peace and bring together whole-of-nation elements
to help mitigate conflict, to end and prevent wars. It is the most
expedient and cost-effective means to execute U.S. political-military strategy and secure peace and stability on the ground.
The low-tech solution to the low-tech problem, it engages and
collaborates with partners from all walks of life to prevent or
mitigate large-scale deployments of general purpose forces for
low or high intensity combat operations. This unique strategic
economy-of-force capability helps preserve combat forces for
their core missions. In that regard, Civil Affairs is an essential
instrument of America’s “strategic landpower.”
“As I look to the future and think about the nature of future
operations and the character of the environment in which
we send the women and men of our Nation,” retired General
Carter F. Ham, keynote at the Civil Affairs Roundtable, told
an audience of Active, Reserve, and retired military, civilians,
and cadets, “it becomes clearer to me the essential role of Civil
Affairs.”
Second, Civil Affairs like all major strategic capabilities, requires appropriate authorization, organization, and resourcing. Given the growing and not diminishing need of the Joint
Force to deal with complex peace and security environments
and security cooperation, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding in coordination with an even greater array of civilian
partners, Civil Affairs must evolve and adapt to these emerging
imperatives which will require the CA force to work more collaboratively, multilaterally, with and through country teams.
Citing his own experiences with Civil Affairs in the Balkans,
Iraq, and Africa, General Ham noted how each time small
numbers of Civil Affairs professionals had a “disproportionate
effect” on leveraging “positive outcomes with relatively minor
investment.”
A rebalancing and overhaul of all of Civil Affairs along “DOTMLPF-P” (doctrine, organization, training, material, leadership, education, and policy) lines is no doubt in the offing.
Army Reserve CA in particular has been far from ideally structured under DOTMLPF-P and is not integrated st