The Rise of iWar: Identity, Information, and the Individualization of Modern Warfare
COL Glenn J Voelz
Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press
"During a decade of global counterterrorism operations and two extended counterinsurgency campaigns, the United States was confronted with a new kind of adversary. Without uniforms, flags, and formations, the task of identifying and targeting these combatants represented an unprecedented operational challenge for which Cold War era doctrinal methods were largely unsuited. This dilemma became the catalyst for a decade of doctrinal, technical, and organizational change premised on the central idea that nonstate actors and individual combatants were a salient national security concern and, therefore, legitimate military targets. This strategic reprioritization evolved into a new model of state warfare centered on the operational tasks of identifying, screening, and targeting individual combatants and defeating their networks."