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The Army agency that has outlined the "ins and outs" of peacekeeping operations for senior military leaders is undergoing a transformation.
Established in 1993, the U.S. Army Peacekeeping Institute, collocated with the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., was renamed the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute on Oct. 28, said professor Jim McCallum, a specialist on the political aspects of peacekeeping.
In view of its role as part think tank and part school, McCallum noted that PKSOI, like its predecessor, will instruct War College students and provide advice to senior DoD leaders, on-the-ground commanders and governmental agencies involved in peacekeeping or stability operations in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We are a part of the War College, and I think that gives us some unique advantages," McCallum noted. "We're the only institute that's focused on looking at peace operations, stability operations in their total context."
His old organization, McCallum noted, had provided its expertise for peacekeeping operations in Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo, and also was involved in post-war planning for Afghanistan and Iraq.
With the advent of the war against global terrorism, McCallum observed that the United States and its allies have recognized an increased need for expertise in conducting increasingly complex peacekeeping and stability operations.
"The post-conflict aspects are as challenging as anything" in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said.
For example, while some U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq are conducting security patrols to round up insurgents, McCallum explained, others support other peacekeeping requirements, including political, economic, social, human rights, justice, and law and order programs.
McCallum said PKSOI is changing to better address such 21st-century peacekeeping challenges. The organization's director, Army Col. Mike Dooley, is now at the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., he noted, "looking at ways in which we may be able to advise senior Army leaders and combatant commanders on stability operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."
McCallum said his organization has proposed an increase of its combined military and civilian staff from 10 to 14 people, to include an engineer to look at reconstruction issues. And a special operations expert also likely will be added to the staff, he noted, in view of that discipline's contributions to modern peacekeeping operations.
PKSOI also wants to become more joint-service in nature, McCallum explained. Since the Army and Marine Corps are the principal military components of today's stabilization and peacekeeping operations, McCallum said his organization is requesting that the Marine Corps assign two officers to its staff.
McCallum said his agency also plans to solicit the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide representatives for PKSOI's staff.
The military "is just one part" of today's peacekeeping and stability operations, McCallum pointed out, noting that interconnections between the military and "all of the other organizations" are critical.
"As you finish (major) fighting, then you start immediately having to move into reconstruction and peace building," McCallum explained. But, peacekeeping, he added, isn't a linear, or simple, process.
"A commander could have two or three different kinds of operations going on," McCallum pointed out, such as fighting insurgents while simultaneously supporting reconstruction and other peacekeeping efforts.
Story by Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service
| Date Taken: | 10.31.2003 |
| Date Posted: | 07.04.2025 02:25 |
| Story ID: | 533325 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 0 |
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