Designing a Stability Operations Framework to Achieve National Interests

摘要

Stability and reconstruction operations (SRO) endeavor to sustain the minimal level of global economic access and security necessary to realize U.S. interests. SRO is a fundamental and enduring aspect of U.S. foreign policy and the ability to execute it will largely determine how successful America is in sustaining or furthering its preeminent prosperity and security needs. SRO requires the integrated application of all instruments of power and spans the continuum of conflict from engagement on emerging threats in stable states to conventional war in failed ones. Initiatives such as the Interagency Management System (IMS) and Civilian Response Corps (CRC) represent advancements in national SRO capability, but the U.S. must embrace and incorporate a more fundamental transformation in how power is applied abroad. Key principles from national frameworks implemented in Vietnam and Hurricane Katrina demonstrate how to empower an untested IMS in Washington and synchronize maturing hard and soft power capability in theater. These events demonstrate the essential elements of leadership, resource application and teamwork necessary to achieve what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has coined as smart power.