Strategic Implications of Hybrid War

<p>While the nature of war does not change the conduct and methods available to wage and win wars does. This appears to be the case with respect to hybrid war an evolving type of war that the United States may soon face. The definition of hybrid war is the merging of different methods and theories of war and warfare at different levels of war in different realms and domains especially the cognitive and moral domains by a blend of actors arranged in time and space to achieve objectives at all levels of war. Hybrid war poses a novel threat to the United States for many reasons including undue U.S. attention on irregular warfare as the war of the future as well as hybrid war's blending of modes at different levels of war using different theories of war and warfare. Recent discussions about hybrid war have been primarily focused at the tactical and to a lesser degree at the operational level not at the strategic level where hybrid war should also be considered. A vital part of strategic art is developing a theory of victory. This paper's thesis is that the United States needs to develop a hybrid war theory of victory which is combining how to win the war and what is winning. Generic principles of what is winning will be used as criteria to develop a theory of war relevant to the hybrid warrior. This theory will help enable the United States to determine if and how national power should be used in a hybrid war to achieve strategic political objectives and what the probable outcomes of military conflict might be in that situation. This in turn will help senior decision makers determine the best ways to achieve strategic objectives and protect national interests. One of the biggest challenges hybrid war presents is exploitation of the cognitive and moral domains vice the physical domain that the United States traditionally concentrates on. The United States may consider giving the cognitive and moral domain more emphasis in its approaches to resolving t</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>