Sorry to have clipped that, but the full article is behind the WSJ "pay" firewall. We can't post the whole thing due to copyright. If it's republished elsewhere in a free format, then we can link to it.
Sorry to have clipped that, but the full article is behind the WSJ "pay" firewall. We can't post the whole thing due to copyright. If it's republished elsewhere in a free format, then we can link to it.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
No FID
WE can't resume training HN militaries & gov'ts to operate soley against their fellow citizens, as the "internal" in FID declares.
Actually, that is not what the "Internal" in FID means. It means what they do internal to their country to defend against threats of all origins, foreign or domestic. But I do agree that we need to make a major change in how we think about building partner capacity designed to primarily keep their own populaces in check (as we are doing so many places in the Middle East, and what the Army is currently hanging a large portion of their rationale for sustaining war fighting force structure in times of peace). Better the smaller efforts that focus primarily on building partner professionalism, which in my opinion is the most noteworthy aspect of what we have been doing in the Philippines in recent years.
The opposite of FID is some notion that one needs to go abroad and pre-emptively attack nations or organizations that they think might attack them some day...
Robert C. Jones
Intellectus Supra Scientia
(Understanding is more important than Knowledge)
"The modern COIN mindset is when one arrogantly goes to some foreign land and attempts to make those who live there a lesser version of one's self. The FID mindset is when one humbly goes to some foreign land and seeks first to understand, and then to help in some small way for those who live there to be the best version of their own self." Colonel Robert C. Jones, US Army Special Forces (Retired)
"We're here to preserve democracy, not practice it." from the move, Crimson Tide
From JP 3-22: Foreign Internal Defense: Participation by civilian and military agencies of a government in any of the action programs taken by another government or other designated organization to free and protect its society from subversion, lawlessness, insurgency, terrorism, and other threats to its security. Also called FID.
As has been mentioned, the "I" in FID implies that the partner nation is trying to take care of its own business, from threats that are either external or internal in origin, with help from a foreign partner (i.e. the US). If the partner nation govt is an ally of the US, and if the threat is coming from an internal source, even if it's from its own citizens, that still meets the definition of FID.
Here's a twist on what's going on in Syria. If the US actively supported the anti-Assad forces there, by supply them with weapons, logistics help, intel, basically everything short of boots on the ground, would we be then supporting an "insurgency", as defined in JP 3-22? Insurgency: The organized use of subversion and violence by a group or movement that seeks to overthrow or force change of a governing authority. Insurgency can also refer to the group itself. (JP 3-24)
Based on that definition, I think we would be, so an insurgency could be a good thing or a bad thing. Just depends on which side of the Kalishnikov you're on I guess...
"We're here to preserve democracy, not practice it." from the move, Crimson Tide
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