Analysis / Strategy

By Other Means – Part I: Campaigning in the Gray Zone

— Kathleen Hicks, Alice Hunt Friend, Joseph P. Federici, Hijab Shah, Megan Donahoe, Matthew Conklin, Asya Akca, Michael Matlaga, Lindsey Sheppard

The United States is being confronted with the liabilities of its strength. Competitors are contesting the rules of the international system and U.S. leadership. With the significant costs of engaging the United States in combat, and the growing range of indirect and non-military tools at their disposal, rivals are finding avenues for threatening U.S. interests without triggering escalation. Their coercive tools range the spectrum of fake news and online troll farms to terrorist financing and paramilitary provocations. Such approaches lie in the contested arena somewhere between routine statecraft and open warfare—the “gray zone.” A concrete and actionable campaign plan is needed to deal with this challenge; in order to do so, the United States must identify and employ a broad spectrum of tools and concepts to deter, and if needed, to compete and win contestations in the gray zone.

Download the Report

Download the Executive Summary

For more CSIS analysis on gray zone approaches, visit the project web page here.

CSIS Reports are produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). 

© 2019 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved.

TAGS: , , , ,

Cite this Page

Kathleen Hicks, Alice Hunt Friend, Joseph P. Federici, Hijab Shah, Megan Donahoe, Matthew Conklin, Asya Akca, Michael Matlaga and Lindsey Sheppard, "By Other Means – Part I: Campaigning in the Gray Zone," Center for Strategic and International Studies, July 8, 2019, last modified July 8, 2019, https://defense360.csis.org/by-other-means-part-i-campaigning-in-the-gray-zone/.

Kathleen Hicks is a senior vice president, the Henry A. Kissinger chair, and director of the International Security Program at CSIS. Prior to joining CSIS, she served as principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy and deputy under secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and forces. She focuses on U.S. national security and foreign policy, geopolitical trends, and defense matters.

Alice Hunt Friend is a senior fellow in the International Security Program at CSIS. From 2012 to 2014, she was the principal director for African affairs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, where she focused primarily on North and West African counterterrorism policy. She joined the Department of Defense in 2009 as special assistant to the under secretary of defense for policy.

Joseph P. Federici is an associate director and associate fellow with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he works on a variety of projects pertaining to geopolitics, national security, and defense matters. Mr. Federici also assists in coordinating the CSIS Military Fellows program. He holds a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law and a B.A. in history and political science from Rutgers University. Most recently, he graduated, with distinction, from Georgetown University with an M.S. in foreign service.

Hijab Shah is a research associate with the International Security Program at CSIS. She graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a master’s degree in security studies in 2016 and a bachelor’s degree in culture and politics in 2011. She was a postgraduate exchange student at the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews.

Megan Donahoe was a research assistant with the International Security Program at CSIS, where she supports a variety of projects pertaining to geopolitics, U.S. security and defense matters, and gray zone competition. She holds a master’s degree in Eastern European history and a bachelor’s degree in international relations, with specializations in international security and Europe and Russia, both from Stanford University.

Matthew Conklin was a research intern with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he provides research assistance on projects relating to national security and defense issues. He holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in history from Wichita State University. Following his internship at CSIS, Mr. Conklin will return to the University of Chicago to pursue a PhD in political science with a concentration in international relations.

Asya Akca is a program manager for the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she facilitates event planning, outreach efforts, and supports the project’s research agenda. She previously worked with the Cooperative Defense Project at CSIS. Prior to joining CSIS, she worked as a research assistant with the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, where she analyzed suicide terrorist attacks in the Middle East. She has also held internships at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Egyptian Affairs, as well as at the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels. She holds a master’s degree in international relations and a bachelor’s degree in political science both from the University of Chicago.

Michael Matlaga was a research associate with the International Security Program at CSIS, where he specialized in NATO and European defense policy issues. He received his master’s degree in security policy studies from the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and his bachelor’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago.

Lindsey Sheppard is an associate fellow with the International Security Program at CSIS, where she supports various projects in emerging technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, and in security applications, ranging from strategic to tactical. Ms. Sheppard contributes expertise in modeling and simulation, system architecture, electronic warfare, and radar from five years of experience in defense research and development. Before joining CSIS, she was a member of the technical staff at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and the Georgia Tech Research Institute, during which time she served as the systems engineering lead on multiyear efforts building simulation capabilities to evaluate technology and deployment solutions to support military operations. She holds an MS and a BS in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Related

Center for Strategic and International Studies

The CSIS International Security Program (ISP) is a constant source of reliable analysis on the threats and opportunities shaping U.S. security interests at home and abroad.

Connect with Us

1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036
intlsecurity@csis.org
@CSISDefense360
© 2024 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy