We Need War Principles for Our Generation

The genesis of this essay came from the Naval Institute solicitation for thoughts on the current principles of war. Throughout my time at ACSC, I have given much thought to the changing nature of war and what principles should guide us in the global war on terrorism. As I began to write ideas and match them with Network Centric Warfare and the concept of Fourth Generation Warfare, I began to formulate a different opinion on their utility. In short, rather than conducting a research paper on those two concepts and how they have changed our warfare principles, I began to scrutinize other areas that would help us achieve a lasting victory in the global war on terrorism. As such, I reflected on the fact that ACSC discusses the role instruments of power play in conflict resolution, yet no doctrine or roadmap exists that ties our governmental departments and agencies together. In essence, not only have our military principles of war changed, but also no principle of war has been defined for the diplomatic, informational, or economic instruments of power. During my research, I scrutinized the origins of our current principles of war and lay the argument as to why they must change. This paper also refutes the idea of fourth generation warfare and describes war in five dimensions. The fifth dimension-the mind-becomes the most critical aspect of war in our generation and is critical within every instrument of power. I propose a list of principles of war that should be considered within every instrument of power.