NCJ Number
190872
Date Published
September 2001
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This report assesses the revisions to Joint Vision 2020, the Defense Department's roadmap to the future, that must be undertaken to prepare for asymmetric means to attack forces abroad and at home.
Abstract
Joint Vision 2020 (JV2020) is the U.S. military's roadmap to how it will approach conflict in the future. JV2020 is vulnerable to asymmetry. Adversaries' recourse will often be to take asymmetrical strategies to counter the operational concepts underpinning JV2020. These strategies offer relatively low cost opportunities to achieve disproportionate results. Successful asymmetric approaches could prevent the United States from fighting at all. Or they could prevent America from winning. Adopting a defensive strategy against asymmetric approaches will not ensure mastery of the asymmetric domain. Within JV2020 there is no construct to achieve full victory or win against the kind of conflicts that characterize today's global security environment. JV2020 continues to apply the same assumptions that remained valid during the Cold War that goals can be achieved with the appropriate tools and forces. JV2020 requires a new set of planning processes and procedures. A transformed JV2020 force will require new ways of thinking about and new methods of executing a broad range of missions. It will no longer be enough to focus on "enemy" forces, their composition, disposition, weapons' characteristics, and targets alone. Estimate formats should be broadened to incorporate the contextual terrain; essentially full spectrum analysis must be applied to all potential planning scenarios. It is not just the enemy's main military effort any more. Planners must orient on the totality of efforts by all players within a given operational environment. Operational plans must focus directly on existing concepts of essential tasks. They must clearly state their critical path to success so that other supporting elements can focus their efforts to ensure objectives are achieved. Training and education must begin to incorporate asymmetry as a fact of life. Experimentation and threat exploration are probably the most valuable vehicles in force preparation for asymmetry. Detailed risk management and risk avoidance assessments against potential asymmetry will be key in preparing for any precision operation. While asymmetric actions are viewed as a distractor mission, they remain a challenge worth pursuing. Leadership must embrace its complexities and be willing to realign how it thinks and plans for potential adversaries. Endnotes, and appendix on asymmetric approaches against JV2020 operational and enabling concepts