Hybrid wars : Obama e le nuove forme della guerra

One of the recurrent themes in U.S. strategic thinking is the evolution of forms of war and the type of planning that must follow for U.S. security policy. The Obama administration is getting ready to publish its first strategic document – the Quadrennial Defense Review 2010 – which will contain the defence projects, budgets, investments and armed forces training programmes for the coming years. The Pentagon internal debate regarding the preparation of this document seems to go beyond simplistic opposition between the traditionalists – interested mainly in the conventional dimension of conflict – and the counterinsurgents – who are on the other hand interested in massive investment in Special Forces and counterinsurgency. On the contrary, it seems to have taken its inspiration from the hybrid war model, that is a novel fusion of conventional and non-conventional elements, which will in all probability be adopted by the United States’ opponents.