Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Rathmell: It is high time to get serious about following the indirect approach

Andrew Rathmell, a two tour British veteran of civilian duty in Iraq, said at the UNC-Chapel Hill conference that with the massive costs of direct intervention increasingly apparent, we need to become serious about carrying out the indirect approach, such as better training of foreign militaries and police forces. I think he is right. The ...

US Army Africa/flickr
US Army Africa/flickr
US Army Africa/flickr

Andrew Rathmell, a two tour British veteran of civilian duty in Iraq, said at the UNC-Chapel Hill conference that with the massive costs of direct intervention increasingly apparent, we need to become serious about carrying out the indirect approach, such as better training of foreign militaries and police forces. I think he is right.

Andrew Rathmell, a two tour British veteran of civilian duty in Iraq, said at the UNC-Chapel Hill conference that with the massive costs of direct intervention increasingly apparent, we need to become serious about carrying out the indirect approach, such as better training of foreign militaries and police forces. I think he is right.

The key task in the coming decades, he said, is “helping to police these zones of disorder.” If the indirect approach really is the way to go, Rathmell noted, then that has significant implications for foreign policy (like more focus on bolstering weak states) and on the structure of major Western militaries.

Alas, where was the latest QDR on this issue?

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.