ABSTRACT
In the time since this chapter was originally written in 1999, the political/military environment has grown much more complex. The construct remains valid, and appropriately updated would provide a basis for supporting analysis. During the Cold War period, the force structure of the United States and its NATO allies reflected the requirement to deter and, if necessary, defeat an aggression by the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. It included the capability to deal with “lesser” requirements that had to be addressed occasionally. However, since the end of the Cold War, and Iraq’s defeat shortly thereafter, more than 50 military operations have been undertaken to accomplish a series of rather diverse “lesser” missions such as, for example, preventing or ending intrastate conflicts, providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and drug interdiction. This indicates that operations of the “lesser” kind referred to as Stability and Support Operations (SASO) by the US Army have become the rule rather than the exception.
