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Remember General Krulak's Three Block War? Are you ready for the Four Block War? You better be, says General James Mattis (above)
Thanks in large measure to the experiences of Afghanistan and Iraq, there is less talk in Washington these days about revolutions in military affairs (RMA) or defense transformations based solely on technology. Our fascination with RMAs and transformation has been altered once again by history's enduring lesson about the predominant role of the human dimension in warfare. Our infatuation with technology was a reflection of our own mirror imaging and an unrealistic desire to dictate the conduct of war on our own terms.
Recent conflicts highlight the need to always remember that the enemy is a human being with the capacity to reason creatively. In effect, he has a vote in the competitive process we know as war, and does not have to play by our rules. Certainly there are both revolutionary and evolutionary changes in the conduct of war. Social, political, and technological forces can impact the character of conflict. But they do not-they cannot-alter its fundamental nature.
This is an important distinction as the Pentagon completes the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). Relevance is more important than yesterday's dominance. The reasons that some claim dominance in their particular area of expertise or their domain of warfare is that no one is contesting us in that domain. If you want to start arguing about strategic priorities in the QDR, we argue that you look at where our enemies are gathering to fight us. That is relevance. If you want to determine where investments are needed to eliminate risk and have the greatest return in terms of defeating our enemies and saving the lives of Americans, look at combat in the "contested zones" of urban and other complex terrain. We need to create the same sort of dominance we currently hold in the Global Commons to our ground forces in these contested zones.
As you are probably aware, the new National Defense Strategy (NDS) and the Quadrennial Defense Review process are broadening our planning framework. This is a very important step forward. The NDS lays out four emerging challengers or threats; the traditional, the irregular, the catastrophic, and the disruptive.
Defense planning scenarios and...