Multinational Operations

Increasingly, Canada's military is being called upon to deploy into complex operational environments where it must deal with highly adaptive adversaries seeking to destabilize society through a variety of asymmetric means. Articulating this new paradigm, the Army's Land Operations 2021: Adaptive Dispersed Operations, identifies a security environment in which "...the likelihood of large force-on-force exchanges will be eclipsed by irregular warfare conducted by highly adaptive, technologically enabled adversaries... intent less on defeating armed forces than eroding an adversary's will to fight." The document continues to explain...[that] turmoil will often occur in urban areas, with adversaries taking full advantage of the complex physical, moral and informational environments that large, densely populated cities provide."1 In order to succeed in this dynamic and complex battlespace, armed forces will have to focus upon intelligence-driven operations that are grounded in extensive knowledge of both the local populations and the belligerents. Indeed, to be of use, this knowledge must derive from an in-depth analysis of the background and motives of the enemy and the cultures they are seeking to overtake. Brigadier-General David Fraser, former Commander International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Multi-National Brigade Sector South, Kandahar, Afghanistan, recently admitted: "I underestimated one factor -- culture." He when went on to lament: "I was looking at the wrong map -- I needed to look at the tribal map not the geographic map...Wherever we go in the world we must take into account culture."2 This forthright acknowledgement from an experienced and decorated warfighter is telling. It underscores the Canadian Forces'; (CF) current lack of capability in what is quickly becoming the crucible of success in the modern battle space: the ability to effectively integrate Cultural Intelligence (CQ) into modern military operations. This article will look at CQ and highlight examples of how it can be used as a force multiplier in military operations. It will then look at the current state of CQ within the Canadian military, and review what other nations are doing in the field. Finally, it will make recommendations as to how the CF can establish a capability that will remain relevant well into the future. However, in order to gain an appreciation of the potential of applying CQ to the battlespace, one must first comprehend the meaning of the concept and how it is applied within the military context.