Meeting the Unrestricted Warfare Threat:
Integrating Strategy, Analysis, and Technology
Roundtables
Discussion Groups
Senior Level Panel
What is Unrestricted Warfare?
The National Critical Challenge
 

Meeting the Unrestricted Warfare Threat:
Integrating Strategy, Analysis, and Technology

The Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory and Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies are sponsoring a Symposium on Meeting the Unrestricted Warfare Threat. The symposium brings together prominent strategists, analysts, and technologists who have been investigating critical aspects of Unrestricted Warfare. Using roundtables and discussion groups, the symposium will integrate the speakers' diverse perspectives to develop an understanding of Unrestricted Warfare threats and strategies, explore approaches to analysis and assessment, and examine technological counters to weapons favored by terrorists. Symposium attendees have a unique opportunity to join these experts as they seek to meet the Unrestricted Warfare threat by Integrating Strategy, Analysis, and Technology. A highlight of the symposium will be the closing panel of senior government officials who will offer their perspectives on this critical challenge, and answer questions from participants. The collection of papers presented at the symposium will be provided to all attendees shortly thereafter. Back to top

Roundtables

The symposium includes five roundtables, each composed of a moderator and four panelists. Topics for the roundtables include (1) understanding unrestricted warfare, (2) the role of analysis in supporting deterrence and warfighting, (3) implications for small unit operations, (4) disrupting adversary networks, and (5) countering common adversary weapons. The moderator will provide a brief overview of their topic and introduce the panelists. Each panelist will then have 10 to 15 minutes to present their views, after which the group will take questions from the audience. Back to top

Discussion Groups

Over lunch on the symposium's second day, attendees will be invited to join the roundtable moderators and panelists in discussion groups to develop perspective on URW threats and the strategies and technologies to counter them. Working in the Kossiakoff Center's classrooms, the discussion groups will develop answers to the following key questions: What is the status of our knowledge regarding URW and the role of strategy, analysis and technology in countering it? What work remains to be done? Can specific corrective or remedial actions be identified? What implications devolve from these actions? With what priority should these actions be accomplished? At the conclusion of this session, the discussion group moderators will summarize the findings of each group for the entire audience. Back to top

Senior Level Panel

The symposium's culminating event is a panel of senior level government and military officials who will offer their perspective on integrating strategy, analysis, and technology to counter the unrestricted warfare threat. The panel will include representatives from the State and Defense Departments along with senior military personnel from the Joint Staff, the Joint Forces Command, and the Strategic Command. After presenting their views, the panelists will take questions from the audience. Back to top

What is Unrestricted Warfare?

The United States is presently encountering a national security threat different than the conventional warfare for which we have become preeminent in the world. This new threat is becoming known as "Unrestricted Warfare" and spans two of the four "security environments" identified by DoD for use in strategic planning: Irregular and Catastrophic, as contrasted with Traditional and Disruptive challenges. Both state and non-state actors, seeking to gain advantage over stronger state opponents will employ a multitude of means, both military and non-military, to strike out during times of conflict.
 
The first rule of Unrestricted Warfare is that there are no rules; nothing is forbidden. Unrestricted Warfare involves multi-dimensional, asymmetric attacks on almost every aspect of the adversary's social, economic, and political life. Unrestricted Warfare employs surprise and deception and uses both civilian technology and military weapons to break the opponent's will. The recent book by Liang and Xiansui offers an overview of unrestricted warfare, utilizing "unrestricted employment of measures, but restricted to the accomplishment of limited objectives." Among the many means cited in their description of unrestricted warfare are integrated attacks exploiting diverse areas of vulnerability:
 
•  Cultural warfare by influencing or controlling cultural viewpoints within the adversary nation
 
•  Drug warfare by targeting an adversary nation with illegal drugs
 
•  Economic aid warfare by using aid dependency to control a targeted adversary
 
•  Environmental warfare by despoiling the natural environment of the adversary nation
 
•  Financial warfare by subverting the adversary's banking system and stock market
 
•  International law warfare by subverting the policies of international or multinational organizations
 
•  Media warfare by manipulating foreign news media
 
•  Network warfare by dominating or subverting transnational information systems
 
•  Psychological warfare by dominating the adversary nation's perception of its capabilities
 
•  Resource warfare by controlling access to scarce natural resources or manipulating their market value
 
•  Smuggling warfare by flooding an adversary's markets with illegal goods
 
•  Technological warfare by gaining advantage or control of key civilian and military technologies
 
•  Terrorism

Reference: Unrestricted Warfare , Col. Qiao Liang and Col. Wang Xiangsui, Panama City, Panama, 2002. Back to top

The National Critical Challenge

The United States must adapt its national security focus to fighting and defending itself against the radical Islamic insurgency and future adversaries who choose catastrophic terrorist attacks as their weapon of choice. This involves development of strategy, concepts and capabilities appropriate to protracted conflicts of an unrestricted nature.

Unrestricted Warfare will manifest itself across the full spectrum of political, social, economic, and military networks, blurring the distinction between war and peace and between combatants and bystanders. This is not new, as evidenced by John F. Kennedy's challenge in 1962. What is new and different is the global reach of adversaries, enabled by advanced information technology.
 

“This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origins—war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins; war by ambush instead of by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him… It requires in those situations where we must counter it…. a whole new kind of strategy, a wholly different kind of force, and therefore a new and wholly different kind of military training.” John F. Kennedy USMA Graduation Speech, 1962