Homeland, Overseas Military Threats Begin to Consolidate

Gen. Peter Pace, USMC (Ret.), former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discusses the broad-based approach that is needed to fight terrorism at West 2008.

Adversaries are finding common ground in purpose and tactics.

The U.S. military is facing a host of missions in all areas of symmetric and asymmetric warfare. These include counterdrug operations, cyberwarfare, stopping piracy, maritime domain awareness and diverse operations in the Global War on Terrorism. And, many of these challenges are linked in ways that threaten Free World security.

However, success in the war on terrorism will require effective use of all government and industry resources available to the United States, not just dominant military power. That declaration came from the onetime highest-ranking officer in the U.S. military.

Gen. Peter Pace, USMC (Ret.), former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized that brute force alone will not be enough to defeat the terrorists. All elements of government—the State Department and the Treasury Department, to name two—must be brought into play where their expertise can help shut down terrorist gains.

Iraq may be the foremost topic of discussion for the defense community, but many other military challenges were discussed at West 2008, the annual conference and exposition sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute. Held February 5-7 in San Diego, California, the conference examined the topic “U.S. at a Crossroads: Where—and How—After Iraq?”

Gen. Pace’s kickoff address followed the theme of post-Iraq operations. Regarding the Iraq War, he declared that by any measure the recent surge has been militarily successful. However, although the evidence is strong—attacks on coalition forces and the Iraqi people are down—people should not focus on those facts alone. Numbers can change, and using that kind of metric cedes to the enemy the determination of whether the allies are winning or losing.

Instead, success should be measured by how the Iraqi people feel about their lives today and in the future. Achieving that success will require the kind of broad-based effort the general described earlier.

And the Iraq War is a key element in the Global War on Terrorism. Gen. Pace stated that U.S. resources expended in Iraq have meant fewer attacks on the United States and its allies worldwide. The enemy’s center of gravity is in Iraq, he said, charging that al-Qaida is sending its “best and brightest” there and to Afghanistan. “We are playing this game on their 5-yard line, not ours—and we need to keep it there,” he declared.

But the United States must strive harder to understand its allies’ points of view, he added. U.S. forces view their involvement in Afghanistan as part of homeland defense, while many other allies view their service there as assistance to a struggling country. The result of this different outlook is unity of command but not of intent, and the United States must sit down with its friends and engage them in dialogue.

Prevailing in this global conflict will require excellent intelligence along with ways of disseminating it to “superbly trained special operations” teams—comprising about 20 men each—who could act on that intelligence, Gen. Pace said. These teams must be on-site or close enough to trouble spots to reach areas of operations within 72 hours. Again, allies will be important in this type of operation, as the United States will need agreements with many nations for these teams to operate from foreign soil.

One such area is Africa, and the general expressed “great hope” about the newly formed U.S. Africa Command (SIGNAL Magazine, May 2007). It will not be like any other command, he noted, as it will include an embedded joint interagency body. This will help it deal with regional issues.

The general admitted that he is very concerned about cybersecurity in this information age. The nation is extremely vulnerable to cyberattack, he warned, in large part because of its heavy reliance on computer systems and networks. Those individuals who know enough about the threat to understand its danger cannot share that information with others, which hinders security measures. The federal government must establish standards for industry to spend money on security, he warranted.

And the threat is only going to grow worse. Right now, only nation-states have the computing capability to wage damaging cyberattacks on the United States. But just as computing advances increased geometrically over the past two decades, more damaging cyberwarfare capabilities are likely to creep down to the smaller computers and their users—who might well be a small group of terrorists, or even an individual.

Adm. Timothy J. Keating, USN, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, reports on the state of the Asia-Pacific region and its involvement with the Global War on Terrorism.

Some of those potential adversaries can be found in the Asia-Pacific region, which is the largest area of operation for the U.S. military. Adm. Timothy J. Keating, USN, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, told a luncheon crowd how the partnerships the United States is building throughout that region are paying dividends both for international security and for the war on terrorism.

Adm. Keating offered that he preferred the phrase “the struggle against violent extremists” to the more common “war on terrorism,” particularly because moderate Muslims in Indonesia, Malaysia and India are supporting efforts against the evildoers. Calling these extremists the top threat in the Asia-Pacific region, the admiral allowed that their influence is diminishing because of efforts by right-thinking nations.

The People’s Republic of China is a major point of interest, and Adm. Keating described recent efforts to open communications channels with high-ranking Chinese officials. A visit in May was “not entirely fulfilling,” but a return this winter produced some small progress. Still, relations between the two nations have “miles to go before we sleep” he said, quoting poet Robert Frost.

China is just not transparent enough, he continued. Among the issues between the two countries are China’s development of area denial weapons, its antisatellite test and its continuing work on asymmetric warfare. China also is working on what it calls “informationization,” Adm. Keating observed, and he questioned why China is doing so much in that arena.

Commenting on a recent court ruling limiting the Navy’s ability to train using active sonar, Adm. Keating warned that “our ability to find and fix any submarine in the Pacific is not as robust as it should be.” The Navy needs to train on active sonar, he stated, adding that if it cannot use the equipment properly, it could end up fighting with one hand tied behind its back—which probably would cost American lives. “We don’t want that, and we don’t want a fair fight. We need active sonar,” he declared.

Adm. Keating’s remarks on the importance of building international relationships were illustrated by members of one panel that examined fighting an unconventional war. Cmdr. Mike Horan, USN, former commander of a joint provincial reconstruction team in Farah, Afghanistan, described how the simplest forms of assistance went a long way in winning over the local populace. He characterized that part of Afghanistan as “fifth world—no sewer service, no water, no electricity, just mostly mud huts with generators operating for only a few rich people.” Even though friendly forces could not produce a coherent regional development plan, the aid provided to that area established good relations with townspeople who in turn would warn U.S. forces of improvised explosive devices. This help reduced the possibility of the Taliban returning to the area, and the overall effort will diminish the likelihood of any terrorist group establishing a base in Western Afghanistan.

Discussing how to fight an unconventional war are (r–l) panel moderator Vice Adm. Al Konetzni, USN (Ret.); Cmdr. Mike Horan, USN; Lt. Cmdr. Joel Lang, USN; Capt. Robert Kapcio, USN; and Capt. C.J. Kalb, USN.

Capt. Robert Kapcio, USN, mission commander for the Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort, declared that humanitarian assistance and disaster relief will be Navy missions for years to come. He related how people in Guatemala cheered and waved U.S. flags while local Cuban doctors “took the day off” when the ship arrived. In Nicaragua, the ship provided veterinarians, who were more important than medical doctors in areas dependent on pack animals for agricultural production.

These two and other panelists highlighted the need for cultural and language education. And, above all, humanitarian forces need effective C3 just as warfighters do, they emphasized.

The topic of fighting and winning a cyberwar produced a lively discussion among (r–l) panel moderator Vice Adm. Herbert A. Browne, USN (Ret.); Brig. Gen. Jon Davis, USMC; Rear Adm. Janice Hamby, USN; David Wennergren; and Steve Cooper.

The concerns expressed by Gen. Pace and Adm. Keating over the possibility of cyberwar were enlarged by a panel on fighting and winning a cyberwar. Panel Moderator Vice Adm. Herbert A. Browne, USN (Ret.), former AFCEA president and chief executive officer and former deputy commander of the U.S. Space Command, offered that cyberwar usually generates one of three attitudes: “We can lose this cyberwar”; “we are losing this cyberwar”; or “I don’t even think about cyberwar.” Adm. Browne warned that space and cyber vulnerabilities cannot be separated.

Brig. Gen. Jon Davis, USMC, deputy commander of the Joint Functional Component Command (Network Warfare), U.S. Strategic Command, said that cyberspace is an operational domain that reaches across all other domains. Tactics, techniques and procedures need to be developed to generate a doctrine.

He pointed out that an attack on one network may affect another network half a world away. Accordingly, every cyberwarrior must possess heavy technological knowledge with good access to intelligence, particularly signals intelligence.

Training these operators will be a challenge, offered Rear Adm. Janice Hamby, USN, director of global operations (N-3), Naval Network Warfare Command. These operators must have nearly a Ph.D.-level education—three to five years’ worth—so their understanding of the networks they defend will enable them to realize when an attack may be at hand. But the presence of these trained professionals will not relieve users of their security responsibilities.

“If you’re on our nets, you had better consider yourself at least a cyberwar supporter, if not an actual cyberwarrior,” she said.

Steve Cooper, the former chief information officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and for the American Red Cross, raised the specter of cyberattacks through homeland nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Drawing from his experience with the Red Cross, Cooper suggested that terrorists could wreak havoc with the nation’s health care by accessing the nation’s blood supply databases and changing vital information. The country has been fortunate that cyberterrorists have not thought about attacking through NGOs—so far.

Everyone—soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and civilians—is a combatant in the Global War on Terrorism, many speakers and panelists said. While military personnel take the fight to the enemy overseas, civilians on the home front have their own duties to deny success to extremist evildoers. One panelist even offered that the U.S. government might shut down cellular service to an entire city if it believes that the population is in imminent danger from a weapon of mass destruction that might be triggered remotely.

But while public attention has been focused on Iraq, Afghanistan and other aspects of the war on terrorism, another threat has been building quietly much closer to home. Traffic in illegal drugs has been destabilizing friendly nations in the Western Hemisphere, and it may be joining forces with terrorism to pose a greater danger to democracies throughout the world.

Adm. James G. Stavridis, USN, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, warns the audience that drug smuggling poses a significant threat to U.S. national security.

Adm. James G. Stavridis, USN, commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), told a luncheon audience that the counterdrug struggle is an increasingly important facet of national security. The admiral stunned his audience with statistics on the cost of illegal drug use in the United States. Aside from hundreds of billions of dollars in lost productivity, law enforcement and criminal activities, illegal drug use claims 20,000 lives each year. Cocaine alone accounts for half of that total; and in the six years since the September 11, 2001, attacks killed 3,000 people in the United States, the country has lost 120,000 people to drug abuse in its homeland.

Drug trafficking is entering the world of terrorism. Some terrorist movements in South America already have been linked to narcoterrorism, and al-Qaida has begun using drug trafficking to fund some of its operations. Terrorists increasingly are trending toward narcoterrorism, Adm. Stavridis said.

And the drug traffickers are becoming more sophisticated and innovative. They have been employing semi-submersible watercraft that can carry up to 5 tons of cocaine. These vessels and their two-man crews can sprint at speeds of up to 15 knots. Several have been caught in the past year, the admiral noted, and the traffickers continue to improve upon them.

Drugs are not the only potential cargo for these craft. Any seagoing vessel—whether a semi-submersible or a freighter—that can smuggle a sizable shipment of drugs also could be used by terrorists to sneak a weapon of mass destruction into the United States. Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich, USCG, director, Interagency Task Force South, warned in a panel that terrorists can be expected to tap the multibillion-dollar drug market to fund their operations.

Considering the war on drugs from a variety of perspectives are (r–l) panel moderator Adm. James Loy, USCG (Ret.); Maj. Gen. Herbert A. Altshuler, USA; Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich, USCG; Special Agent Michael A. Braun, DEA; and Bob Knotts.

Special Agent Michael A. Braun, assistant administrator, chief of operations, Drug Enforcement Administration, pointed out that of the 43 foreign terrorist groups identified as dangerous, 19 have “an unequivocal connection” to some aspect of the drug trade. That conservative estimate includes notorious groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Qaida, one cell of which funded the attacks on the Madrid subway a few years ago with sales of hashish.

Special Agent Braun explained that state sponsorship of terrorism has declined, and the United States has cut the flow of terrorist funds around the world. With the interruption of terrorist organization C2, the corporate model of terrorism has given way to a franchise model in which cells must arrange their own funding. Both terrorists and drug smugglers tend to operate in ungoverned space, which increases the likelihood of cooperation.

Adm. Stavridis noted that to help in its drug interdiction efforts, SOUTHCOM will need full-spectrum awareness, particularly maritime domain awareness; distributed, networked wireless sensors; long-dwell unmanned sensors; and an improved version of relocatable over-the-horizon radar. It also may be able to use an effective version of airborne laser mine detection technology to pick up semi-submersibles, as well as surface-towed torpedo technology to find fast boats used by smugglers.

And, SOUTHCOM is “very into rivers,” Adm. Stavridis offered. The m-hull Stiletto, built by the Office of Force Transformation (SIGNAL Magazine, March 2006), will be employed to help conduct counternarcotic operations.

Rear Adm. Michael P. Tillotson, USN, commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, describes the new emphasis on riverine and other related naval operations.

Riverine operations are a key element of the new Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC). Its commander, Rear Adm. Michael P. Tillotson, USN, told a breakfast audience how NECC’s battlespace starts at blue water, goes through green water to brown water, and even can include dirt. NECC forces are located all over the world in every U.S. combatant command area of responsibility conducting a wide range of missions, he said.

Roughly 90 percent of the world’s commerce travels through sea lanes, he observed. Many of these are coastal waterways; and to cover them all, the Navy must engage and partner with others, the admiral stated.

Many enemy naval forces look like the Coast Guard or are even smaller, he noted. The NECC has a significant presence in the Central Command’s area of responsibility, and it has “a lot going on in Africa,” including two vessels in the Africa Partnership Station in the Gulf of Guinea. Many activities are taking place in the Asia-Pacific region, he added.

Gen. James T. Conway, USMC, Marine Corps commandant, characterized the war on terrorism as far-reaching and long-term. Iraq and Afghanistan are the front lines in this long war, but leaving those two battlefronts will not end the war—the terrorists will take their fight elsewhere, probably to the homeland United States. These terrorists hate America and Americans with such a passion, they will continue to try to kill relentlessly, the general charged.

Gen. James T. Conway, USMC, Marine Corps commandant, outlines the status of the Marine Corps in the war on terrorism.

Gen. Conway cited progress in Iraq, noting that many areas have seen the populace turn against the terrorists and help coalition forces pacify once-difficult regions. However, while the tide may have turned in Iraq, the trend is in the opposite direction in Afghanistan. Where in the past the Taliban used to conduct hit-and-run operations, it now is holding ground in several areas.

The fight in Afghanistan is ideally suited for the Marine Corps, its commandant declared. The conflict is expeditionary, and operations tend to be off-road and in rugged terrain. However, the Corps cannot operate effectively in both Afghanistan and Iraq simultaneously, so its troops would need to leave Iraq to apply force in Afghanistan.

And, the Corps’ expeditionary nature is in need of a boost. Gen. Conway warned that the Corps has an entire generation of Marines who are combat-hardened but never have set foot on a ship. The Corps is losing expertise and is becoming “out of whack” with its expeditionary nature, he charged. Many Marines are not doing mountain, jungle, cold weather or combined arms training. They have become land warriors, and they need to get back to being a lighter, faster Marine Corps, he said.

Another problem facing the Marine Corps is the strain placed on it by ongoing combat operations. The Corps has had to borrow materiel from maritime prepositioning ships, one of which is down to 60 percent of its capacity. Equipment in Iraq is holding up, but “we wouldn’t want to bring it home and put it on the street,” the general warranted. Many assembly lines have shut down, particularly for big-ticket items such as the AV-8B Harrier, the amphibious assault vehicle and the light- armored vehicle. Once lost, these platforms cannot be replaced.

The relationship between the Marine Corps and industry is pretty good, the general allowed. Two things sit atop the Marine Corps’ wish list: a way to defeat improvised explosive devices and a new helmet that can stop a 7.62-millimeter round that is the favorite of enemy snipers. Gen. Conway also called for the development of asymmetric ways of countering the enemy’s own asymmetric warfare tactics.

Lt. Gen. John M. McDuffie, USA (Ret.), vice president, U.S. Public Sector, Microsoft Corporation, describes the private sector’s involvement in the war on terrorism.

Technology, particularly from the commercial sector, will be one of the key tenets in the strategy to defeat terrorism, said a former U.S. Army general now working for the world’s largest software company. Lt. Gen. John M. McDuffie, USA (Ret.), vice president, U.S. Public Sector, Microsoft Corporation, said that technology standards are key to an enterprise as large as the Defense Department, and much remains to be done in that arena.

Gen. McDuffie stated that technology exists to drive collaboration, but the Defense Department “must get serious about [collaboration].” Existing technologies can run mobile systems on the secret Internet protocol router network (SIPRNET)—“It should already have been here,” he charged.

For future technologies, visualization tools will evolve and change everyone’s lives, Gen. McDuffie predicted. Coupling geospatial technologies with simulation will lead to incredible capabilities. Parallel computing holds great promise for solving the problem of excessive heat generation from increasingly dense processors.

However, the United States is threatened by its increasingly lackadaisical attitudes about government-funded research and development. Bell Laboratories achieved many breakthroughs over the years, but now that largely is history. Microsoft alone spends $7 billion on research, and the government must find a way to leverage that and other commercial research and development, he warranted.

As important as technology is to U.S. forces, using it the right way is the key to success, according to an official in OPNAV N-61. Kevin Cooley, its director of information technology and information resource management, warned in a panel that the United States could lose the war on terrorism—“a loss is possible,” he declared. The United States has a history of technology dominance, but the country cannot fool itself into thinking that past success is a guarantee of the future. This would put the nation in a perilous position. The key is agility and the ability to change one’s environment, he said, adding, “Our adversaries are as smart as we are.” 

Photography by Michael Carpenter. Additional photograpy.