Countering Illicit Power: An Educator's Guide

DOWNLOAD PDF - THE COUNTERING ILLICIT POWER: AN EDUCATOR'S GUIDE

“Countering Illicit Power: An Educator’s Guide” is based on a decade of research and conceptual innovation, codified in three National Defense University publications: Convergence: Illicit Networks in the Age of Globalization, Impunity: Countering Illicit Power in War and Transition, and Beyond Convergence: World Without Order. Together, these materials provide a suite of educational tools that facilitate adaptive learning and deeper understanding of the challenge in countering illicit power, and the means to address this emerging global threat.

The materials consist of facilitator’s guides, lecture notes, outline slides, webcasts, and podcasts designed for active, reserve, and civilian components of the Joint Force, as well as civilians in the national security enterprise. They are intended to help planners, implementers, and policy makers at all levels bridge the gap between strategy and implementation when confronting this difficult and complex challenge. The materials introduce tools, techniques and procedures for planning and implementation across a wide range of essential tasks – from interagency coordination, to intelligence preparation, to building partner capacity and security force assistance. The “Model Syllabus” has been tested for traditional classroom instruction and graduate-level professional military education; facilitated, interactive distance learning; unit-level pre-deployment training and mission rehearsal exercises; and scenario-based planning. In each instance, the materials have proven themselves to be adaptable to a wide range of missions, echelons, geographic locations, and student demographics. 

Research direction and leadership for this project was provided by Michelle A. Hughes, Esq. and the Old Dominion University Research Foundation. We also gratefully acknowledge the contributions of David Gordon, Douglas Farah and IBI Consultants, CCO staff members Patricia Clough, Joey Seich, and Becky Harper, and the contributing authors to all three of the Convergence- and Impunity-related publications. 

 The Center for Complex Operations (CCO) was established to support the preparation of Department of Defense and other U.S. Government personnel for complex operations in such areas as training and education, and the innovation and development of new knowledge. It is our hope that the “Countering Illicit Power” courseware contributes toward fulfilling this mission.