Two very different, but related, items have been published online this past week, related to the Human Terrain System and embedding anthropologists/social scientists in counterinsurgency. The first one I mention–unsurprisingly published by the Small Wars “Journal” –is written by Andrew Garfield of Glevum Associates, a private defense contractor that we have encountered here many times… [Read more…]
With the Washington Post’s series on Top Secret America (a Pulitzer Prize for summarizing what everyone already knew) hitting the streets, it’s appropriate to take a quick look at a few of the national security non-profits that operate betwixt and between the public and private sectors, many holding their own classified briefings and conferences. These… [Read more…]
COUNTER-COUNTERINSURGENCY: You’ve heard the criticisms. You’ve read the book. Now see the movie. These are some of my favourite lines: counterinsurgency: it’s like a wild horse, only you bet on it; counterinsurgency involves a thousand small healing steps; the manual can never be wrong, only the practice; cultural knowledge for the military: it’s so basic… [Read more…]
Continuing from the last item on this topic, the following are more examples of recent European press coverage of the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System and its embedding of civilian social scientists in counterinsurgency missions. One thing that immediately stands out from most of these articles is the emphasis not on “civilian social scientists,” but… [Read more…]
July 22, 2010 by Maximilian Forte
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