Military Organizations for Homeland Defense and Smaller-scale Contingencies ― A Comparative Approach

History has often confirmed that it is not superior weapons but superior organizations that are the most effective factor in achieving military success. In light of this consideration, Kevin-Douglas Stringer's new work questions how the U.S. military can best be reorganized to conduct military operations (as they are known in doctrinal terms) other than war, and in place of more traditional actions associated with high-intensity conflict. Such restructuring is central to meeting the demand of homeland defense and small-scale contingencies, including nation-building and stability operations. Foreign military formations present models for peace operations, irregular warfare, and other missions, as well as counterterrorism, law enforcement, and border control. The models considered -- drawn from tactical units in Britain, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Norway, Rhodesia, Russia, and Switzerland -- are selected as best practice examples in the reorganization of the U.S. Armed Forces for future missions both at home and abroad.

Kevin D. Stringer is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College, and has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management, lectured at the Baltic Defence College in Estonia, and has been a Research Visitor at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.