The Future of U.S. Security Depends on Owning the ‘Gray Zone.’ Biden Must Get It Right.
.By Clementine G. Starling & Julia SiegelJune 13, 2022
The Future of U.S. Security Depends on Owning the ‘Gray Zone.’ Biden Must Get It Right.Sora Shimazaki
Conventional military superiority once guaranteed the security of the United States and its allies—but no more. Adversaries like Russia and China have learned that if they cannot compete with the United States conventionally, they can undermine U.S. security in the cyber, economic, and information domains through offensive activities in the “gray zone,” or the space between peace (or cooperation) and war (or armed conflict).
After decades of relying on its conventional power, the United States lacks a comprehensive strategy to align gray-zone activities with the national goals it aims to achieve. More complicated still, this term is ill-defined—if even acknowledged—in U.S. and allied strategies, creating an obstacle to further dialogue and policy action. Current efforts are uncoordinated across the executive branch and relevant stakeholders, and the desired end state is unclear.
The Biden administration, for its part, acknowledges the strategic imperative to effectively compete in the gray zone with concepts like integrated deterrence, which is aimed at integrating all instruments of power “across the spectrum of conflict.” Now, the forthcoming National Security Strategy (NSS), National Defense Strategy (NDS), and Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) provide an opportunity to unite national efforts to deal with these nonmilitary security challenges.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2022/06/13/the_future_of_us_security_depends_on_owning_the_gray_zone_biden_must_get_it_right_836998.html
