Counterinsurgency (COIN) continues to be a controversial subject among military leaders. Critics argue that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have made the U.S. military, particularly the Army, "COIN-centric." They maintain that equipping U.S. forces to combat insurgency has eroded their conventional war fighting capabilities. Those committed to preserving and even enhancing COIN capabilities, on the other hand, insist that doing so need not compromise the ability of the military to perform other tasks. They also point out that the likelihood of even a mid-level conventional war remains low while the probability of unconventional engagements is high. This monograph reviews the COIN debate, analyzes current force structure, and concludes that contrary to the more extreme positions taken by critics and proponents, the U.S. military has achieved a healthy balance between COIN and other capabilities and COIN should remain a core task of an enhanced U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) that could train conventional soldiers in COIN tactics in the event that a large expeditionary FOIN mission becomes necessary.

This resource may prove helpful to active duty military soldiers, military analysts, military contractor supports, ROTC students, as well as military leaders.Master degree students pursuing coursework in Homeland Security degree courses and certificates, especially classes such as Political Violence and Terrorism, Security and Civil Liberties, Interagency cooperation, and undergraduate homeland security degree programs to include coursework for Terrorism and Counterterrorism, cyberwarfare and international counterintelligence classes may find this text helpful for research papers relating to global security and counterinsurgency topics.

Related products:

Counterinsurgency resources collection is available here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/security-defense-law-enforcement/counterinsurgency

Other products produced by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute can be found here: https: //bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/1609
About the Author: ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

THOMAS R. MOCKAITIS is a Professor of History at DePaul University. He conducts international presentations about terrorism and counterterrorism (CT) for various programs with other experts through the Center for Civil-Military Relations at the Naval Post- Graduate School. He was the 2004 Eisenhower Chair at the Royal Military Academy of the Netherlands.He has also lectured at the U.S. National Intelligence University, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) School, the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the Canadian Forces Staff College; he has presented papers at the Pearson Peacekeeping Center (Canada), the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (UK), and the Austrian National Defense Academy.A frequent media commentator on terrorism and security matters, Dr. Mockaitis has appeared on Public Television, National Public Radio, BBC World News, all major Chicago TV stations, and various local radio programs. He appears regularly as a terrorism expert
for WGN-TV News. He is the 2008 recipient of the DePaul Liberal Arts and Sciences Cortelyou-Lowery Award for Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship, and Service. Dr. Mockaitis is the author of Soldiers of Misfortune?(Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2014); Avoiding the Slippery Slope: Mounting Interventions (Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2013); The Iraq War: A Documentary and Reference Guide (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio/Greenwood: 2012); Osama bin Laden: A Biography (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2010); Iraq and the Challenge of Counterinsurgency (Westport, CT: Praeger,2008); The "New" Terrorism: Myths and Reality (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007); The Iraq War: Learning from the Past, Adapting to the Present, and Preparing for the Future (Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2007); Peacekeeping and Intrastate Conflict: the Sword or the Olive Branch? (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999); British Counterinsurgency in the Post-Imperial Era (Manchester, UK: University of Manchester Press, 1995); and British Counterinsurgency, 1919-1960 (London, UK: Macmillan, 1990). He co-edited Grand Strategy and the War on Terrorism with Paul Rich (London, UK: Frank Cass, 2003); and The Future of Peace Operations: Old Challenges for a New Century with Erwin Schmidt (a special issue of Small Wars and Insurgencies, London, UK: Taylor and Francis 2004). He is an editor of Small Wars and Insurgencies and has also published numerous articles on unconventional conflict.

His most recent work, Conventional and Unconventional War: A History of Conflict in the Modern World, is forthcoming from ABC-Clio/Praeger. Dr. Mockaitis earned his B.A. in European history from Allegheny College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in modern British and Irish history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.