Vanguard Magazine

SECURITY S Bonnie Butlin is the executive director of the Canadian Security Partners' Forum. Canadian lessons from an American decade of war On June 15, the Joint and Coalition Operational Analysis (JCOA) division of the Joint Staff J7 released the study, "Decade of War Volume I: Enduring Lessons from the Past Decade of Opera- tions." A post-Iraq evaluation, drawn from 46 JCOA studies from 2003-2012 and over 400 observations, best practices and findings, the study details 11 strategic themes with recommenda- tions for enabling responsiveness, versatility and affordability into future joint force development. The study is contextualized first, by changes in the global envi- ronment (national pluralism, sovereignty erosion, small actor em- powerment and ascendance of the information domain), which equally affect the security community; and second, by increased integration and collaboration among actors within missions, in- cluding the security community. The study, sometimes characterized as a "what went wrong" document, may serve as a solid measure for what is "going very right" in Canadian security. The recently-emerged Canadian Se- curity Partners' Forum (CSPF) network has in less than a year had some degree of success along all of the 11 strategic themes identified in the study. 1. Accurately defining the operational environment, and specifically, understanding the population is key. The CSPF has been actively mapping the Canadian security landscape and ca- pabilities. With a forward presence in all ten provinces and three territories, the Forum is expanding its diverse-source network and increasing information flows, all of which are accelerating under- standing of the Canadian security population and security capac- ity, regionally and nationally. 2. Managing a conventional warfare paradigm in a non- direct combat environment requires non-direct approaches, of particular relevance to the domestic security community. Though decentralized, the Forum is developing significant network capa- bilities from the bottom-up, while reducing stovepipes among the many security sub-communities, by building interconnectivity and in turn facilitating unified approaches. 3. Battle for the narrative: Information is critical in aligning goals and narrative with end states. The Forum conducts ongo- ing environmental scans and aggressively assesses information to enhance the Canadian security capacity through augmented com- munication and networking. It supports an ambitious liaison ca- pability within the network that disseminates and gathers knowl- edge, and reduces barriers to augmenting information capacity. 4. Transitions can be problematic for the mission/effort when under-resourced or not sufficiently planned for. The Forum is re- ducing transition risks through dispersed and rotating leadership, succession planning, cross-domain and cross-community engage- ment and learning, and enhanced situation awareness. 5. Adaptation: The Forum is broadening options through de- veloping expert networking capabilities, engaging leadership, en- ergizing lessons learned, and moving toward the development of a security-related body of knowledge. 6. Integration of capabilities across security sub-communities has begun and institutionalizing interactions and information flows among them has already had a noticeable force multiplier effect in building capacity among Forum partners. 7. Interagency coordination: U.S. coherent direction of re- sources and capabilities in Iraq was identified as problematic. The Forum is building pathways for collaboration across multiple vec- tors within the security community. 8. Coalition operations were complicated when partners with competing interests, cultures and resources struggled to act in a unified way. The Forum's plug-and-play model has facilitated timely and practical cooperation, and highlighted common bases for action, without binding associations beyond their mandates or comfort zones. 9. Military partnering with the host-nation, or the "home- nation" security community, can reduce the need for military back-filling as security capacity increases. While the study con- cluded that the military would have to continue to backfill for others for the foreseeable future, the Forum's unprecedented expansion may signal that growth in security capacity may be possible sooner and in a more structured way than expected, at least in Canada. 10. With increased state use of surrogates and proxies, the occurrence of asymmetric challenges has risen, increasing the need to reduce vulnerabilities, minimize exploitable seams within secu- rity efforts, and improve coordination and unity of effort through integration. The network's broad presence and communication, even in the Canadian geographic peripheries, is already increasing awareness within the security community, potentially hardening Canadian targets. 11. Super-empowered threats are exploiting globalized tech- nology and information, and achieving unprecedented potential for disruptive capacity. The Forum is proactively engaging the IT sector to advance awareness, mobilize unity of effort, and build capacity. The JCOA study may serve as an important guide for and indi- cator of future successes – both military and for security. www.vanguardcanada.com OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012 43

• Cover