Applied Smart Power by a SEAL

[J. Robert DuBois]

Gents,

It's been nearly a year since my last breath in this forum. After finishing the Afghanistan tour I returned to DC...and straight into the cyclone of writing, speaking and managing stuff. How is it that we can find more time to discuss important matters like this when we're at war than when we're nestled snug in our own beds Stateside?

"Applied" smart power has come much clearer since our last Autumn swirl. Now I'll be able to answer the questions and express the message in a more satisfactory way for anyone hoping to understand it. There won't be much meat in this particular posting, but I attended the "Cutting the Fuse" Congressional gathering with Steve Clemons yesterday and in searching out news of it tonight I stumbled happily back into SWC. More will follow.

(You can see the outline for this conference at: http://www.newamerica.net/events/2010/cutting_the_fuse)

Put simply - applied smart power (ASP) is like a micro version of the macro concept of "smart power." Smart power is Joseph Nye's international relations theory that coercion and attraction, or hard and soft power, have to be balanced more effectively between states in order to promote cooperation and prevent inadvertent antagonism (inviting unnecessary violence) through excess force.

"Applied" smart power, then, is that aspect of engagement many of us in the Council have already practiced over many continents and many decades - it's the understanding that comes from an American named Rob or a Brit named Andy working side-by-side with a local guy named Ahmet or Sasha or Burhan, building understanding with that person himself, and having that knowledge trickle up toward countrymen...and policy makers. Applying smart power means ratcheting international theory down to become interpersonal activity.

And yet, what is one of the more common complaints from those of us serving in the mud or sand close to our partners? "Those conventional guys back home/in HQ just don't get it! We are screwing up this fight if the locals can't trust us." We see firsthand how counterproductive certain TTPs or SOPs or policies can be in the big picture of mission accomplishment.

To be fair to critics of ASP, this is not easily distilled down to metrics, any more than a federal judge can define pornography...he just "knows it" when he sees it. However, if you think about many of the higher functions of our peculiar race (the humans) like great art, love, or wisdom, they all tend to be a lot harder to define. Any monkey with a paint-by-numbers canvas can paint a picture, but it ain't art without a master behind the brush.

Likewise, any monkey with a gun can shoot when he feels threatened...but a warrior can discern whether that shooting might do him more harm than good.

That's where this discussion is coming from. I was extremely happy to hear similar balance-hard-and-soft points coming from many of yesterday's speakers, including Congressman Brian Baird, Governor Thomas Kean (if you listened to CSPAN you heard my Q&A with both of them) and of course Steve, Bob Pape and Peter Bergen. There is a virtual "surge" of thinking coming, which is meeting in the middle and agreeing with me that no one "side" can have the only right approach. There is a finer solution somewhere amidst the myriad opinions, which unfortunately take on a life of their own (through the magic of personal ego wars) and become the issue instead of addressing the issue.

As threatened earlier, more will follow. Please feel free to begin attacking at your earliest convenience.

By the way, if you aren't too numbed by this overview of ASP yet, I would encourage you to review some illustrative articles at what I consider the finest blog in the ether, PowerfulPeace.net. Coincidentally, I happen to write Powerful Peace, but I like to think I'd consider it the finest even if someone else wrote it.

- Rob