14 April 2015

Should America fight more like Iran? Pentagon official raises eyebrows.

By Anna Mulrine
APRIL 9, 2015

The Pentagon's No. 2 civilian said the US need to be better at operating in the 'gray zone' of 'deception, infiltration, and persistent denial.' But that doesn't mean America has to play dirty, some expert say.

WASHINGTON — The American military must become better at operating in a “gray zone” of war, one that sometimes calls for using “deception, infiltration, and persistent denial,” the Pentagon’s No. 2 official said in a little-noticed speech this week.

These are the sort of tactics that Russia has been using in Crimea and Ukraine, Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work noted Wednesday in remarks at a strategy conference at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.

America’s adversaries today use “agents, paramilitaries, deception, infiltration, and persistent denial – staying within that so-called ‘gray zone,’ ” he told assembled officers. “That’s a zone in which we don’t typically operate, but one in which we must become more proficient.”

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