Paul J Wille

Operational Art of Counterterrorism Paul J Wille

Terrorism is a real threat to the lives of the citizens of the United States and of her allies. Osama bin Laden's organization sponsored the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole which resulted in seventeen dead U. S. sailors, dozens of injuries, and millions of dollars in damage. The terrorists were nearly successful in sinking the multi-billion dollar U. S. warship. Can the elements of operational design in the U. S. Army's Field Manual (FM) 3-0 (DRAG), Operations, be used to frame a counterterrorism (CT) campaign for dealing with Osama bin Laden and his organization? To do so, the operational design presented in FM 3-0 must support CT planning, which is an important issue for the U. S. Army for several reasons. The Army, an important instrument of national power, is employed to shape the global security environment in support of the National Security Strategy. One of the Army's mission essential tasks is to provide support to civilian authorities in dealing with crises. Historically, the Army's support of civil authorities has included a wide variety of missions. Combating terrorism is also a type of stability operation that the Army may execute. Terrorist acts against the U. S. are intended to limit U. S. engagement and influence in the terrorist's region of interest and throughout the world. Information on terrorist organizations, particularly on Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda organization, will be used here to determine if the elements of operational art in Army doctrine are adequate to develop a concept plan to defeat a terrorist organization. The elements of operational design outlined in FM 3-0 will be used as the framework for analysis. The discussion begins with the operational environment which forms the framework for the problem. Next, the terrorist organization's perspective is discussed because, to apply the elements of operational design, planners must understand their enemy. Thirdly, U. S. policy and doctrine will be discussed to show the importance of li