Symposium attendees watch keynote speaker USAID Assistance Administrator Ciara Knudson present online. (Photo by Stanislava Mladenova)
The Civil Affairs (CA) Association hosted its annual Symposium, a hybrid on-site and online event, from 15-16 November 2024 at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, PA. The gathering involved over 60 participants on-site and 30 more online, and was coordinated with the nearby 304th Civil Affairs Brigade’s 75th Anniversary, including a Dining Out the evening of the 16th.
Last year’s discussion revealed how Army multicomponent and joint CA teaming may be pointing to a way forward for successful integration of CA forces in strategic competition—but also in stabilization and large-scale combat operations (LSCO). The emerging institutional implications for CA force structure, management, and development along DOTMLPF-P lines are enormous—including addressing considerable longstanding gaps that CA proponents, the Army, U.S. Marine Corps, Joint commands, and DoD need to address to realize fully the potential of Civil Affairs.
The Symposium's workshops, speakers, panels, and Civil Affairs Issue Papers enables the CA Corps to come together, network, formulate, and discuss ways ahead with institutional and policy leaders. It also serves to recognize outstanding CAA members, enjoy camaraderie, and build esprit de corps.
The Symposium started with four detailed workshop discussions on Friday—one that looked at “Teaming Civil Affairs in Stabilization – Cross-Institutional Perspectives;” the second on “Teaming CA in Joint, Inter-organizational, and Multinational Environments in Competition;” the third on “Teaming and Partnering in the Changing Role of Civil Affairs in Multi-Domain Operations;” and, the fourth on “Teaming Civil Affairs Functional Specialists – Recent and Emerging Operations.”
The next day began with a brief-back on the workshops. Among their major findings:
Teaming is an inherent military problem; but CA is best positioned among forces to take a teaming approach to deal with complex, multi-domain problems in conflict prevention, combat operations, stabilization, and competition.
“Teaming,” however, is not comprehensive enough for CA to help the commanders solve their human dimension and civil environment problems. What CA brings, more than teaming, is partnering, civil-military integration, and simply what luncheon speaker 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Special Operations) (Airborne) Commander Col. Christian Carr called “relationship-building” to build a superior learning network to our adversaries.
CA operators must better understand the role of Joint and service proponents for Civil Affairs, as well as the rich array of policy and doctrinal references they produce for themselves. Implicit in this is also better understanding of joint, interorganizational, and multinational (JIM) partner policy and operations guidelines. This is the fastest, least expensive, and most impactful way CA can raise its value to its primary customers—maneuver and operational commands.
At the interagency level, planning relationships are foundational to civil-military teaming, partnering, campaigning, and operational integration across the continuum. As much emphasis is required for gaining and maintaining human dimension and civil environment positional advantages to shape winning (without fighting) in deterrence, as well as LSCO on post-conflict governance issues.
Civil Affairs forces are not prepared for 21st-century LSCO—not just for its violence and lethality, but also for its complexity and dynamism. Symposium keynote speaker U.S. Agency for International Development Assistant Administrator Ciara Knudsen pointed out that U.S. forces are very likely not to be the lead force in competition and LSCO and will have to operate in support of a host nation or government, with certain restrictions and caveats to operational performance.
Among the most important questions the extended Civil Affairs Corps must contend with is: What is the CA value-proposition for LSCO?”
The 38G capability is proving to be highly important to shaping the strategic and operational environment to provide real-time value for deterrence and LSCO. The multi-organizational, multinational teaming approach of the civil-military cultural property protection is serving as a model for the development of other 38G specialties. However, how can 38G troops be better teamed with conventional and SOF CA for both LSCO and security assistance?
After the brief-backs and keynote and luncheon speakers, Dr. Stanislava Mladenova explained the thesis of her new book, When Rambo Meets the Red Cross – Civil-Military Engagement in Fragile States, emphasizing the importance of relationship-building as a steady state activity and not as ad hoc. The diversity among these partners should be seen as a strength and an opportunity rather than a problem. Among the most important abilities they should have is adaptability.
Then came the presentation of three deliverables produced by outgoing Association vice president for programs and events Col. (Ret.) Christopher Holshek and Association director Col. (Ret.) Dennis Cahill. At the 2023 CA Symposium, Association president Maj. Gen (Ret.) Hugh Van Roosen tasked the Board with “finding a strategic narrative for Civil Affairs.” After a year’s work, the two presenters showed the capstone memorandum, “Telling the Civil Affairs Story – A Narrative Strategy for Civil Affairs,” along with the updated strategic communication slide deck and a two-sided handout which also helps explain: “what is Civil Affairs; what does CA do; and why is it important?”
The project and its deliverables are intended to facilitate a more common understanding of CA—more from the bottom up than the top down. It also enables supported service commands and JIM partners to understand, leverage, and integrate this uniquely diverse but widely unknown strategic land force to support a complexity of U.S. and allied strategic and politico-military objectives in any given campaign.
Pending final review by the Board of Directors and select Symposium attendees, the final products should be displayed on the Association website for download and use by the end of this year.
The Symposium closed with stimulating Issue Paper presentations. Based on the vote of attendees present in the room, best paper winners were:
First prize ($1,000) went to:
“Improving Civil Affairs Teaming with Private Sector Tools” by Captain David Skrzypiec and Captain Ted Delicath
Second prize was a tie ($500 awarded to each paper):
“The Evolution of Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC)” by Lieutenant Colonel Peter Schaefer
“Civil Affairs Task Force: Conflict Prevention through Multicomponent Teaming” by Major Tony Smith and Major Adam Frowein
Third prize was also a tie ($250 awarded to each paper):
“Building Partner Capacity: The Value of U.S. Army Reserve Civil Affairs” by Colonel Bradford Hughes
“Teaming to Operationalize Culture for Campaigning” by Colonel Jack A. Schultz and Lieutenant Colonel Tara R. Scardino
The morning after the Symposium and 304th CA Bde Dining Out (at which the Association provided Winfield Scott medallions), there was a highly productive hybrid meeting of the Board of Directors.
Among the major decisions, reflecting a redraft of the by-laws, was a massive re-organization of the Board to reflect functional more than geographic responsibilities—vice presidents to oversee updated committees of directors responsible for: membership and finance; publications; awards and nominations; programs and events; information technology; legacy and enlisted affairs; and, communication and outreach. All directors were placed in committees with specific roles for them.
The Board also approved of hosting next year’s Symposium on 13-16 November 2025 in the Los Angeles area, organized in coordination with the 358th Civil Affairs Command. It also tagged locations for later Symposia: San Antonio, TX or Mountain View, CA in 2026; and, Tampa, FL in 2027.
The Eunomia Journal will post a more detailed interim Symposium Report later in December, with the final version to appear in the Vol. XI of the Civil Affairs Issue Papers in February (online) and March (in print). The next event will be the 2025 online Roundtable in mid-April.