Partnering with USAID and the Office of Reconstruction and Development
by Nicholas Dickson
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On March 4, 2010, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ADM Mullen, discussed the future of the military in the 21st Century to the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth KS. ADM Mullen stressed that in our future conflicts, the United States military would need to be prepared for several eventualities. First, the Military should be the last resource used in the elements of national power at the President's disposal. Second, ADM Mullen stressed heavily that the Military must take care of the civilians. At one point, he mentioned that the military needed to focus on people and prevent strategic failures with tactical success. (Mullen, 2010) While this was an obvious nod to GEN McChrystal's new policies which attempt to limit civilian causalities in Afghanistan, it is easy to see this focus stretching out to almost all that the military encompasses. It is essential that we carry this focus to all aspects of our efforts. Most importantly, it is necessary to examine an unexplored crisis developing in our nation's efforts. The majority of our military led construction projects do not adequately address proper design or engineering standards commensurate with the level of geological risk in the development area. This is a failure which will damage our reputation, or relationships, and has the potential to kill innocent civilians in the future.
One of the key aspects of the military's efforts to reach out to civilians and local leaders is the Civil Affairs team. These teams, as part of the Special Operations Forces missions in both Iraq and Afghanistan, have unique access to the populace. With this access comes an unparallel chance to build trust with the local civilians and government organizations. It is through this trust that the majority of the efforts to legitimize the host nation occur. ADM Mullen highlighted this during his speech when he said, "trust is the coin of the realm." (Mullen, 2010) GEN McChrystal's new strategy in Afghanistan attempts to earn the trust of the populace by separating the population from the insurgency and attempting to limit events which could harm this trust. However, our current policies on Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP) projects, and especially our implementation of these projects, do not currently show the planning or execution to keep the trust of the populace. The mutual support, or lack thereof, between the Department of Defense (CERP) and Department of State projects has already been explored at length in many Congressional studies. What has not been explored is how CERP projects for infrastructure and buildings are potentially setting the stage for future failures in this trust with our host nation partners and citizens and how Civil Affairs forces can work to prevent this from happening.
Download the Full Article: Preventing Future Natural Disasters
Major Nicholas Dickson is an active duty civil affairs officer who has served in various team leader and staff positions in tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. As a professional civil engineer, his experience in his tours highlighted issues which formed the basis of this article. He is currently serving with the 97th Civil Affairs Battalion (Airborne) at Fort Bragg NC.
