Time for a New Dance Partner: Phase Zero Engagement of NGOs in PACOM's Security Cooperation Plan

摘要

Our national strategy envisions the preservation of human dignity and humanitarian assistance as a strategic objective. The U.S. military increasingly finds itself the executive agent in this humanitarian strategy. The strategy recognizes that human suffering and systemic breakdowns in a state's ability to provide for human needs is a security matter we cannot ignore. Although U.S. military forces have always played a pivotal role in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions, they tend to be ad hoc in nature or brief. Addressing humanitarian conditions requires a long-term commitment that the military alone cannot fill. The military is not the only player in this strategy; there is the interagency as well as a number of international, private, and non-governmental actors. These actors provide the long-term solution in the humanitarian sphere. This paper examines the changing dynamics of humanitarian assistance and the nature of NGO-military interaction in the context of the rising trend of non-traditional security threats replacing traditional threats. This paper will recommend the incorporation of NGOs as a part of Pacific Command's Security Cooperation Plan phase zero shaping activities to address long-term humanitarian needs the U.S. and NGO community are after.