Decade of War, Volume I: Enduring Lessons from the Past Decade of Operations - Mistakes and Failures in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, Strategic Themes and Recommendations

In October 2011, General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued a task to "make sure we actually learn the lessons from the last decade of war." In response, the Joint and Coalition Operational Analysis (JCOA) division reviewed 46 lessons learned studies conducted from 2003 to the present, and synthesized the studies' 400+ findings, observations, and best practices into the 11 strategic themes described in this report. More than a "decade of war," the 46 studies covered a wide variety of military operations; from major combat operations in Iraq, to counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and the Philippines, to humanitarian assistance in the United States, Pakistan, and Haiti, to studying emerging regional and global threats. JCOA's initial analysis was further refined and discussed by subject matter experts from across the Department of Defense during a weeklong Decade of War conference in May 2012. This report represents the synthesis of those efforts, and while significant, is only the initial step in turning these critical observations into "learned lessons." The work that follows, integrating findings into a continuous joint force development cycle, will serve as an enabler to building a more responsive, versatile, and affordable force. This initial effort is envisioned to be the first volume in a sustained, multi-phased effort to identify critical, high-level lessons for the joint force.

In the decade following 9/11, it became evident that the Cold War model that had guided foreign policy for the previous 50 years no longer fit the emerging global environment. Key changes included:

A shift from US hegemony toward national pluralism
The erosion of sovereignty and the impact of weak states
The empowerment of small groups or individuals
An increasing need to fight and win in the information domain

In the midst of these changes, the US employed its military in a wide range of operations to address perceived threats from both nation-state and terrorist groups; to strengthen partner nation militaries; to conduct humanitarian assistance operations; and to provide defense support of civil authorities in catastrophic incidents such as Hurricane Katrina. This wide range of operations aimed to promote and protect national interests in the changing global environment.

Lesson One: Understanding the Environment * Lesson Two: Conventional Warfare Paradigm * Lesson Three: Battle for the Narrative * Lesson Four: Transitions *
Lesson Five: Adaptation * Lesson Six: SOF-GPF Integration * Lesson Seven: Interagency Coordination * Lesson Eight: Coalition Operations * Lesson Nine: Host-Nation Partnering * Lesson Ten: State Use of Surrogates and Proxies * Lesson Eleven: Super-Empowered Threats

Dettagli