2008 Unrestricted Warfare Symposium
10-11 March 2008, Kossiakoff Center, Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory
2008 Unrestricted Warfare Symposium Agenda (Tentative)
Quote:
WHAT IS UNRESTRICTED WARFARE?
The first rule of unrestricted warfare is that there are no rules; nothing is forbidden. The United States is encountering a national security threat different from the conventional warfare for which we have become preeminent in the world. This new threat, known as “unrestricted warfare,” spans two of the four “security environments” DoD identifies for use in strategic planning: Irregular and Catastrophic, as contrasted with Traditional and Disruptive challenges. Terrorism, the focus of this year’s Unrestricted Warfare Symposium, is just one of many attack means that can be employed by unrestricted warfare adversaries.
In general, such adversaries are expected to employ surprise and deception in asymmetric attacks and use both civilian technology and military weapons as they attempt to break the opponent’s will. Adversaries employing unrestricted warfare are expected to use many modalities to create integrated attacks exploiting diverse areas of vulnerability in support of their grand strategy. Unrestricted warfare battlefields can be expanded beyond the obvious physical domain to include other areas such as culture, drug trade, economic aid, environment, finances, media, information networks, natural resources, and smuggling.
"This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origins—war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins; war by ambush instead of by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him… It requires in those situations where we must counter it…. a whole new kind of strategy, a wholly different kind of force, and therefore a new and wholly different kind of military training."
John F. Kennedy
USMA Graduation Speech, 1962
SYMPOSIUM OBJECTIVE
We are seeking to assess what leading strategists, analysts, and technologists should consider viable future force capabilities when combating unrestrictive warfare threats. Active attendee participation and networking will form a new, integrated community dedicated to countering our increasingly sophisticated adversaries.
