Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/1384391
sion elements, and defeat mechanisms. To elevate back to strategic concepts, as deterrence-by-punishment seems decreas- ingly sufficient as a response in a world of more complex and multi-dimensional threats, then what role should the Canadi- an Army play in deterrence-by-denial and defensive operations in North America? In a continental defence construct, I do not see defence primarily about deterring great powers from attacking our home- land with large land forces. Nor are North American conventional land forces usually factored in as an initial phase of strategic- level military engagements, especially when fulfilling operational sustainabil- ity requirements. Instead, DND's Close Engagement: Land Power in an Age of Un- certainty touches on the essential elements for responding to a changing continental threat environment, including: • fostering the culture and tools that en- able interoperability with partners; • agile and adaptive formations that can be created to respond to different scales and forms of threats in and to North America – usually posed by non-state ac- tors or proxies; and • resilient and robust networks that can feed, receive, and fuse information up, down, and across, at the speed of rel- evance. ARMY The military, political, economic, social, and environmental sectors of security have separate and overlapping implications for North American defence. www.vanguardcanada.com JUNE/JULY 2021 13 Domestic: External Distractions vs. Internal Fragmentation The military, political, economic, social, and environmental sectors of security have separate and overlapping implications for North American defence. The national se- curity responsibilities involving the Cana- dian Army may require that thinking and capabilities gravitate increasingly toward domestic, "soft" security challenges. Rather than contemplating scenarios of Russian forces occupying Graham Island or Chi- nese scientists hunkering down on Prince Patrick Island, I am more worried about an adversary bringing down a remote region's diesel-electric generating systems from afar, Soldiers and Light Armoured Vehicles from 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry conduct an attack during Exercise MAPLE RESOLVE on May 10, 2021. Photo: DND