“Unrestricted Warfare” (URW) and XGW / 4GW / 5GW

I haven’t read the book and so really can’t opine. From both Marks post and the wiki article I suspect the strategies discussed might be varied in terms of xGW though I suspect 1,2 and 3GW are largely cast aside. I’m shooting in the dark and now want the damn book! Is it available via amazon.com?

Just checked and it is. Ordering it shortly.

Here is a PDF to it:

http://www.terrorism.com/documents/TRC-Analysis/unrestricted.pdf

Here is an earlier post of mine —>

http://purpleslog.wordpress.com/2006/04/13/on-unrestricted-warfare-and-the-generations-of-war-framework/

What I got from the book was a broader thinking on the range of methods of conflict, and in the interesting ways that different methods can be combined.

The following methods are listed:

* Atomic warfare
* Diplomatic warfare
* Financial warfare
* Conventional warfare
* Network warfare aka Information Technology Infrastructure warfare (not to be confused with Netwar or Network-Centric warfare)
* Trade warfare
* Bio-chemical warfare
* Intelligence warfare
* Resources warfare aka Natural Resources warfare
* Ecological warfare
* Psychological warfare
* Economic aid warfare
* Space warfare
* Tactical warfare
* Regulatory warfare
* Electronic warfare
* Smuggling warfare
* Sanction warfare
* Guerrilla warfare
* Drug warfare
* Media warfare
* Terrorist warfare
* Virtual warfare (deterrence)
* Ideological warfare

This list should not be thought as of definitive and final.

Offhand it might be useful to add the following to the list:

* Culture warfare
* High Energy warfare
* Infrastructure Systems warfare (e.g. roads , power - think Russia turning off gas pipelines)
* Lawfare aka Legal Systems warfare (was implicitly stated)
* Meme warfare (kind of covered in Ideological warfare)
* Meteorological/Geophysics warfare
* Nanotech warfare (future)
* Netwar
* Network-Centric warfare
* Open Source warfare
* Population / Immigration Warfare
* Reputation warfare
* Robotic warfare

The authors suggest that different methods can be combined in interesting ways.

For instance, the John Robb’s Global Guerrillas idea could be constructed as guerrilla warfare + infrastructure systems warfare + financial warfare + open source warfare.

Many of these conflict types resemble Nye’s Soft Power ideas in that they are non-kinetic and indirect.

The conflict methods cut across the Generations of War categories.

For instance Atomic Warfare:

* 2GW: Strategic Nuclear Weapons
* 3GW: Tactical Nuclear weapons to take out, redirect, and neutralize large Soviet armored formations
* 4GW: The threat of nuclear terrorism and blackmail
* 5GW: Actor A convinces actor B that actor C is planning nuclear terrorist activity against actor B, so actor B needs to take out actor C before actor C has the capability ready; Or actor A does the nuclear terrorist attack but frames actor C for it (same result in both cases)

So I am picturing a conflict matrix:

Left to Right: Hard Power methods / Soft Power methods.

Top to Bottom: 0GW, 1GW, 2GW, 3GW, 4GW, 5GW

One thing that is very noticeable, most of these methods are outside that of what is normally though of as the national security establishment. Also, the time-frames often are longer then that of a two-term president.

Ok, I should write more now, but I have to pack for a trip. Future Purpleslog will followup sometime later.