Wed, 07/19/2023 - 10:43am
Security and Defense Medicine in a New Age of Policy
By Michael R. Hetzler
Security and defense medicine is about to shift into high gear, or instead, it should. Two new and identified security policies are now past the conceptual phase and are being implemented across Western nations, democracies, and alliances.1 Strategic competition (SC) and irregular warfare (IW) will now shape international affairs, diplomatic engagement, and crisis management for at least two decades. Both policies are based on principles of competition, influence, and deterrence below the threshold of war while still preparing for war.
With these policies, guidance has been directed to change our fundamental perspectives of engagement. These approaches are employed as “an enduring condition to be managed, not a problem to be solved.”2 To be successful, these policies require integration of all actors on the world stage, national, allied, partner, and even non-state actors such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and even multi-national corporations.3,4
So what? Operational medicine requires an identical change in its approach, application, and execution. All traditional and doctrinal military norms are being upended, not just by peer or near-peer adversaries but by the technology that can now be used as tools of warfare. The ‘Age of Technology’ has changed every aspect and environment of diplomacy, warfare, and social interaction. While those disciplines redesign and reconstruct to remain instruments of value, so must the support services to them.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/security-and-defense-medicine-new-age-policy
