Nation-Building Elevated

[Surferbeetle]

All,

Dunno about an Astan village (simply current OpSec issues ?)

It's always wise to listen to lawyers

Some thoughts:

a) We could define a 'typical' Afghan village using agreed upon assumptions and work from there.

b) We could use opensource info on a village in Helmand Province frequently in the news which we all agree upon.

c) We could use opensource info on a Haitian village frequently in the news which we all agree upon.

IIRC, you once posted that you actually enjoyed staff work, though prefering team as more fun. So, go to it.

Some thoughts/disclaimers: take everything with a grain of salt, recognize that we all have clay feet, there is never enough time to fully accomplish what we would like to all do, and how pretty are prototypes?

Despite these disclaimers I believe it's possible to accomplish something of worth using this forum. I base this statement upon a few of my experiences

• Today's brick and mortar MBA coursework consists of significant digital interaction with fellow students and teachers.

• I led a group of ~100 folks over three weekends ~48 hours total and came up with a militarily acceptable assessment for approximately 10 different locations using only opensource materials.

• On a daily basis I lead small groups of engineers and other multidisciplinary experts who work using one or two face to face meetings, ftp sites, vtc conferences, emails, and telephone calls to build multimillion dollar projects.

I would propose that due to everyone's myriad responsibilities this should be a joint effort, using a network/boundary-less/virtual structure with a very lax schedule, and limited deliverables...however I am just one team member...what does everyone else think and suggest?

The Military Decision Making Process may be worth considering for planning purposes,

1. Receipt of Mission
2. Mission Analysis
3. Course of action (COA) Development
4. COA Analysis
5. COA Comparison
6. COA Approval
7. Orders Production

...however I am not wedded to it and am willing to surf any staff 'wave' suggested to include balanced scorecard, work breakdown structures, and J. Sachs' differential diagnosis...again I am just one team member...what does everyone else think and suggest?

For doctrine, FM 3-24 (digital and hardcover) is opensource, so is Jeffery Sach's book The End of Poverty, and Walt Whitman Rostow makes sense to this simple mind...however I am just one team member...what does everyone else think and suggest?

Best,

Steve

P.S. For your consideration from today's WSJ NATO Eyes New Top Civilian Post in Kabul By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV

KABUL—The North Atlantic Treaty Organization plans to create a new top civilian post in Kabul to flank its military chief in Afghanistan, and the British ambassador to Afghanistan is the leading contender, according to senior officials familiar with the matter.

The announcement could be made as soon as Jan. 28, the day of an international conference on Afghanistan to be held in London, the officials said.

The new appointee would head the civilian pillar of the U.S.-led coalition's work here, directing the flow of funds and aid to the provinces, and—if necessary—bypassing corrupt Afghan institutions. The official would play a prominent role in the effort to get insurgents to switch sides and to reintegrate them into society.

A British government official said the United Nations and European Union will also likely announce new special representatives to Afghanistan at or around the London conference. The British government wants the London meeting to result in a new strategy for reversing Taliban advances and for steering President Hamid Karzai's administration toward more efficient and competent governance.

[jmm99]

from this guy:

SB's link to WSJ
The new appointee would head the civilian pillar of the U.S.-led coalition's work here, directing the flow of funds and aid to the provinces, and—if necessary—bypassing corrupt Afghan institutions. The official would play a prominent role in the effort to get insurgents to switch sides and to reintegrate them into society.

since the villages are far beneath his scope -

Back to the experiment.

I posit that the thread (realizing that it could easily turn into a separate forum, just looking at all the potential subject matter areas) will focus on civil affairs, as to which STP has roughed out a start to a tasked mission:

from STP
There is a civil solution delivered by military, but, to accomplish it, the military needs to reconceptualize its approaches, build a different kind of information/engagement base, develop some new core skills & operational command center resources to define, manage and support a larger civil framework consistent with national/regional strategies, evolve (with training and support) a military capacity to deliver synchronized and focused civil support operations.

Now, if this could be stated in plain English (STP, you have been dealing too much with those high-priced lawyers) ....

-------------------------------
As to whether this or that:

from SB

a) We could define a 'typical' Afghan village using agreed upon assumptions and work from there.

b) We could use opensource info on a village in Helmand Province frequently in the news which we all agree upon.

c) We could use opensource info on a Haitian village frequently in the news which we all agree upon.

As to (a), I expect that we, the herd of cats, would take too long to agree on what a "typical" village is, whether in Astan or elsewhere. A real open-source village eliminates that barrier - and allows use of open-source maps, sats, records (if any exist), etc. Where in the world, I don't care - my cat is not in that mouse hunt - and I probably will be equally armchair-ignorant of whatever locality is selected.

--------------------------
MDMP (FM 5-0) or MCPP (MCWP 5-1) probably would be OK and most familar for most here. And in checking the bullet points:

1. Receipt of Mission
2. Mission Analysis
3. Course of action (COA) Development
4. COA Analysis
5. COA Comparison
6. COA Approval
7. Orders Production

I concluded that I used all those with my 1pm (1300 on my watch) initial client conference - great minds run in the same channels, whether whales or minnows (my world); and MDMP is not necessarily "slow and burdensome at lower levels" per the Wiki.

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As to doctrine, we can go well beyond FM 3-24 in terms of "doctrine" - lots of good, bad and indifferent stuff in open-source manuals, monographs and articles. Of course, only the "best" is enshrined on my HD.

As to doctrine and some other points, and recognizing that we are a herd of cats (but with situational awareness of what the others are saying or trying to say), I'd suggest adopting a few of Evans Carlson's precepts:

1. As to doctrine: "don't obey, think"

2. As to "lead": "ability, knowledge and character"

3. As to everything: "work together" (gung ho).

PS - totally immaterial to the experiment: As to brothers Rostow, Walt and Gene, I'll leave them on the shelf (Vietnam Era prejudice).

Best to all; et Bonne Chance re: La Expérience

Mike

[Steve the Planner]

DLA Piper, sorry.

I think, for the experiment, you flip the problem around to ask about an appropriate end state, then back fill into the solutions and needs, rather than the top-down (We have this program) strategy.

I've been tracking a very good link (from somebody around here, I forgot) on COIN implementation (Moore COIN Center Brief ppt) which is going in a very productive direction on that end state approach.

Civilian isn't going to work, so what has, will? It is more of a hybrid colonial administration strategy where the military framework becomes more intentionally and purposefully engaged in actually developing a civil framework, putting it in place (maybe even actually being it), and pulling things together. Not an accident, not a minimum necessity, but a real effort.

Is that different from today? Yes. How? Not exactly sure, but I know that at the top level intent and authority, and civilian/NGO cooperation (or at least, Mike, a non-compete clause).

First, you don't need just the bad guy info; you need the kinds of info that an econ dev'r would want. What did this place used to do? What, if any unique advantages exist here? What can we build on? What resources, market opportunities, soil types, etc..? Is anybody in the place who can engage on their own, with support, or is it a from-scratch effort?

Armed with background info, and authority, what could be done that isn't now?

I'm still very interested in what happens at Now Zad. What has become of it? What can be learned? Is it going to stick, or is it just another in a long chain of clear, clear, clear....

Concerned that our village-by-village scale is to small, vulnerable, unsustainable. In Iraq, many of the problems were beyond the village and province, like reopening interprovincial bridge/road systems. So what is the scale for viability? An island, or a string of, say, at least five related islands? What are the keys to understanding external dependencies and opportunities?

Or is it just as simple as---grow nuts (or apples, etc...) and we'll package them and ship them by air to india?

When I was in the Army, we had plenty of shortages---2 and 3 man tank crews don't work that well. So, as a tank commander, I said send me anybody; we'll work it out. Had a steady flow of young msfits, but we had fun, did a lttle tankin, and some even got with the program. Seems like almost every boy (not that girls don;t too, but we didn't have any) likes to do something on a tank, usually drive it.

On the same tack, I think most soldiers, without too much assistance, can become pretty good at econ dev't if they have some support and framework for it. Maybe, its digging stuff, building walls, helping with ag, or cleaning up something. But maybe helping connect next stage activities out of, say the Jalalabad Fab Lab (a high tech fabricating shop for students, etc...).

Where is it that they are, what is around, what are the gaps, background, experience, people you can work with, and conditions? Do we define a proto-type village to test strategies on, or take whatever comes and go from there?

Already online, we have engineers, planners, econ and CA types---and we already have a lawyer....

Steve

[jmm99]

and even lower-priced biochemist, the initial end-state is a village that functions - in its own basic terms (so be prepared to translate the following) - in these areas:

1. Local Governance Functions

Public Administration
Public Education
Public Safety
International and Domestic Law
Public Health

2. Local Economics and Commerce Functions

Food and Agriculture
Economic Development
Civilian Supply

3. Local Public Facilities Functions

Public Transportation
Public Works and Utilities
Public Communications

4. Populace Special Functions

Emergency Services
Environmental Management
Cultural Relations
Civil Information
Dislocated Civilians

Basic doctrine (JP 3-57.1) subject to "adapt, improvise, etc."

From the initial end state, oil spot to the larger; for now, interprovincial bridge/road systems - a bridge initially too far.

I don't view this experiment as a vehicle to solve the problems in current operations; but as a pilot for what can be done by a networked system of folks who meet the "ability, knowledge and character" test.

If we find that interprovincial bridge/road systems are or are not an absolute necessity to our Adopt a Viilage, then we will have accomplished something.

Not only do we have some SMEs posting on SWC. Consider the expertise that they can pull from their contact lists.

Regards

Mike