The United States would flow resources into theater from forward bases and sea ports. The model scenario was based on a major regional actor, such as North Korea or Iraq, invading a neighbor. To determine the appropriate force structure for this period, the BUR identified four “phases” of a major regional contingency and their respective tasks required. interests, so the BUR designed a force structure that could accommodate two nearly simultaneous regional contingencies, as well as steady state peacekeeping and presence operations. In the emerging world order, the United States was unsure which adversaries would threaten U.S. The BUR identified a range of possible post-Cold War uses of military force, including peacetime presence operations, weapons of mass destruction deterrence, threats from major regional conflicts, and smaller crises that would require U.S. The 1993 Bottom Up Review (BUR) matured this vision and presented the first iteration of the phasing construct for major regional conflicts that continues to inform operational planning today. The 1992 National Military Strategy contained many of the underlying concepts that later took form in the phasing construct, namely the idea of rapid decisive victory. Department of Defense went back to the drawing board to assess possible crises and evaluate force structure in light of the unipolar moment. Following decades of conflict against the Soviet Union and in the immediate aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, the U.S. The origin of the phasing construct rests in the early post-Cold War era. Phasing’s Origins: The Unipolar Moment (1992-1993) It was once valuable as a tool for force planning, but it has been applied too broadly and without sufficient utility. As Paul Scharre explored in the first two installments of this series, the phasing construct does not reflect reality. Yet these high hopes have not proven decisive over the past 15 years. Glorified historical battles typically occurred in this phase, and most training and equipment is designed to operate in high-end conventional combat. Read the first and second articles here.Īsk any budding student of security or member of the military where the focus of conflict is, and you’ll hear an emphatic “phase III operations.” The period in which decisive combat operations are undertaken is the meat and potatoes of America’s military.

military’s phasing construct and the line between war and peace. Editor’s Note: This article is the third in a series from thinkers at the Center for a New American Security that explores the U.S.

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