ABSTRACT
The essence of the challenge of modern military leadership is ethical. Counterinsurgency (COIN) in particular intensifies moral dilemmas about the use of force in military operations, but any sustained combat operation today will reveal battlefield ethics as a central concern. The various monikers used to describe current and future security challenges—"persistent conflict," "long war," "global war on terror"8212;suggest that ethical leadership become more important and complicated in the years ahead. A truly comprehensive approach to COIN leadership must cast a wider net around leadership, focusing on junior officers and noncommissioned officers. It must continue improving tools for assessing and responding to identified problems, such as surveys and casualty data. It demands a deeper and more prominent effort to address the conflicts among values and the tensions between force protection and the mission. It requires institutional support at the highest levels for redefining leadership.
