Counterfeit COIN ops?
Lt. Matthew Cancian, the Dave Goldich of active-duty Marines, has a good piece in the January issue of Marine Corps Gazette criticizing commanders who pretend to be carrying out a counterinsurgency campaign without really doing it: We go through the motions of counterinsurgency without focusing on what really matters. This leads to a focus on ...
Lt. Matthew Cancian, the Dave Goldich of active-duty Marines, has a good piece in the January issue of Marine Corps Gazette criticizing commanders who pretend to be carrying out a counterinsurgency campaign without really doing it:
We go through the motions of counterinsurgency without focusing on what really matters. This leads to a focus on process metrics instead of outcome....We patrol in order to be able to report hours spent patrolling.
Tom again: Anytime you see someone focusing on their inputs (time and other resources expended) rather than their results, you should be suspicious. This is true in civilian life as well as in the military, I think.
Lt. Matthew Cancian, the Dave Goldich of active-duty Marines, has a good piece in the January issue of Marine Corps Gazette criticizing commanders who pretend to be carrying out a counterinsurgency campaign without really doing it:
We go through the motions of counterinsurgency without focusing on what really matters. This leads to a focus on process metrics instead of outcome….We patrol in order to be able to report hours spent patrolling.
Tom again: Anytime you see someone focusing on their inputs (time and other resources expended) rather than their results, you should be suspicious. This is true in civilian life as well as in the military, I think.
More from Foreign Policy

Is Cold War Inevitable?
A new biography of George Kennan, the father of containment, raises questions about whether the old Cold War—and the emerging one with China—could have been avoided.

So You Want to Buy an Ambassadorship
The United States is the only Western government that routinely rewards mega-donors with top diplomatic posts.

Can China Pull Off Its Charm Offensive?
Why Beijing’s foreign-policy reset will—or won’t—work out.

Turkey’s Problem Isn’t Sweden. It’s the United States.
Erdogan has focused on Stockholm’s stance toward Kurdish exile groups, but Ankara’s real demand is the end of U.S. support for Kurds in Syria.