Shaping a safe and secure environment (S.A.S.E) - The effectiveness of military non-kinetic operations and the role of public A\affairs in a peace support operation.

Abstract

Terrorists, transnational organized crime syndicates, local warring factions, warlords, and petty thieves have all found common cause in states and regions in conflict. Over sixty Peace Support Operations have been conducted under the auspices of the United Nations with a complex maze of peace-builders working in increasingly harsh places like Afghanistan, the Congo, Somalia and Sudan. No guidance exists to inform decision makers, planners, or practitioners who deploy to understand exactly what these missions are all about. In cloakrooms and conference rooms, in forward operating bases and humanitarian compounds, those who are engaged in these operations ask: what are we trying to achieve?

Stabilization Operations aim to prevent the renewal of violent conflict; conflict-sensitive development seeks to enable a long-lasting peace. This thesis deals with Peace Support Operations (PSO) that involve helping a country move from violent conflict to Peace.A Safe and Secure environment (SASE) is central to the realization of all Stabilization goals. Promoting effective and responsible governance of the security sector in all its manifestations is a critical element of any program designed to help societies evolve in more secure, democratic and prosperous ways. Citizens from these countries have themselves ranked safety, security and justice as their primary concerns. A Safe and Secure Environment (SASE) will enable these states to start a positive path towards peace, so that recovery and development can begin.

Public affairs is responsible for the public information aspects of the commander’s communication strategy, which develops and delivers the commander’s message to the desired audience to achieve an intended effect. During both planning and execution, PA contributes to the coordinated communication strategy that maximizes the informational component of military power, harmonizing the efforts of the range of military information activities to produce desired effects

At the height of the “Afghan Surge” in 2010-2011, more than 100,000 U.S. and coalition troops were committed to a counterinsurgency (COIN) mission of “clear, hold, and build” on behalf of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA): Clear the countryside of insurgent fighters. Hold the terrain, alongside Afghan security forces. Build infrastructure, commerce, and rule-of-law.As part of this wave, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry “Red Bull” Division (2-34th BCT) deployed more than 3,000 citizen-soldiers to Eastern Afghanistan. It was the largest call-up of Iowa troops since World War II—and one of the only times a U.S. National Guard brigade was designated as a “Battlespace Owner” during Operation Enduring Freedom.

The conduct of battalion-sized air-assault mission in March-April 2011, for example, serves to illustrate this point. Labeled “Operation Bull Whip,” the movement involved approximately 2,200 U.S., French, and Afghan soldiers in the establishment of a new district in Laghman Province. It was notably the largest air-assault conducted by 101st Airborne Division during its 2010-2011 rotation as CJTF-101.

The operation called for a night-time helicopter movement of U.S., French, and Afghan troops to ridgelines above two valleys, while a third U.S./Afghan force blocked the exit at the valleys’ convergence. At daybreak, these coalition forces descended into their respective valleys, visiting each village encountered, talking with people, and in searching for insurgents and weapons. At the end of three days, the area was declared secured, and the provincial governor hosted a regional “shura”—a meeting of community elders and representatives. The governor subsequently established a new district, and a new district center of government was built to service the area. Perhaps because the governor had insisted upon issuing prior public notice of the pending operation, there were no shots fired during the large-scale movement of troops. The outcome of this mission was a Perfect Success.