Human Terrain System
Encyclopedia
The Human Terrain System (HTS) is a United States Army
program utilizing experts from social science disciplines such as anthropology
, sociology
, political science
, regional studies and lingustics to provide military commanders and staff with an understanding of the local population. The goal is to give commanders insight into the population and how they may react in order to enhance operational effectiveness, save lives, and reduce military and civilian conflict.
The program was prompted by cultural problems between local populations and American forces after their invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan
.
HTS has often been controversial with the American Anthropological Association
in 2007 publishing a statement opposing it.
Ph.D., J.D., and Andrea Jackson within their article, "An Organizational Solution for Department of Defense’s Cultural Knowledge Needs", Military Review (July-August 2005), 1821. From July 2005 to August 2006, Captain Don Smith, U.S. Army Reserve, of the Foreign Military Studies Office, implemented the concept. According to this concept, human terrain may be defined as the human population and society in the task force environment, characterized by cultural, anthropological, and ethnographic information about the local society.
The HTS concept has been largely inspired by the lessons drawn from the United States experience in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military failed to take steps to understand the context of the Vietnamese cultural environment. The Vietnam-era CORDS experience provides crucial lessons that guide the development of an effective cultural intelligence program: one that can support tactical and operational level commanders today. By realizing former flaws, brigade commander and staff rely on the HTS for a better understanding of the cultures in which they are working in, especially for the preparation to face challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The primary functions of the HTS were explained in a defense contractor memo. The memo stressed the main duty of the members to find the ethno-cultural reasons for why villagers increased Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in red zones. In other words, the main purpose of HTS is to explain to the commanders and soldiers the reasoning behind guiding the enemy, and why they are hostile towards the US Army. It serves the greater purpose of explaining alien cultures to those who are culturally and geographically unaware. The defense contractor memo stated that the team would not work on patrols with the Brigade Combat Team
(BCT). Instead, they would remain in the Green Zone and focus on the findings and observations of the returning BCT patrols in order to analyze cultural differences.
The Human Terrain System is no longer a proof-of-concept program though it is still under the auspices of United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
. It was developed in response to identified gaps in commanders’ and staffs’ understanding of the local population and culture, the impact on operational decisions, and the poor transfer of specific socio-cultural knowledge to follow-on units.
According to the U.S. Army, the Human HTS has been specifically designed as a project to help brigade commanders and their staff address cultural awareness shortcomings at the operational and tactical levels by focusing on understanding the human terrain: the social, ethnographic, cultural, economic, and political elements of the local population surrounding them. By understanding the human terrain in which insurgents live and function, HTS provides the task force with social-scientific support that is used towards the military decision-making process.
The project provides commanders with cultural information, which, in fact transcends the methods of the traditional military intelligence systems. Through the HTS, commanders can succeed by understanding the cultural dimensions, such as values, language, and civilization, of the locals in order to better prepare their staff for the mission.
In late 2003, US officers in Iraq complained of poor local intelligence
. Dr. Hariar Cabayan recruited Cultural anthropologist Montgomery McFate while she working for the Navy
because she advocated using social science to improve military operations and strategy. McFate joined the program in 2007 and helped develop the CPE database in 2005 to provide units with detailed information on the local population. McFate resigned her position in 2010 and joined the U.S. Naval War College
as the Minerva Chair (Strategic Research).
In July 2006, Colonel
Steve Fondacaro (retired) was recruited by TRADOC G2 to manage the HTS program. In response to a Joint Urgent Operational Needs Statement from Central Command issued in April 2007, calling for HTS Team in every Army Brigade and Marine Corps Regiment in Iraq and Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in September 2007 authorized a $40 million expansion of the program. Maxie McFarland
, the TRADOC G2, suddenly terminated Fondacaro's temporary position as HTS Program Manager in June 2010 for reasons that have not yet been made public. It was known that Contract and Human Resource Management, both functions having been retained exclusively by TRADOC G2 office since 2006, were issues of strong disagreement. Publicly, TRADOC G2 stated the Program Manager position was going be filled as a government position through competition and selection, however after initial announcement on USAJobs, the position was cancelled and the manager position was filled by McFarland's executive officer and long-time colleague, COL Sharon Hamilton.
In 2009, the US Congress directed that an independent assessment be performed to determine the state of the HTS Project. The task was sourced to the Center for Naval Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia by the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.
The US Army conducted its own internal investigation of HTS as well but that report is not available to the public.
In 2010, a new program manager, Colonel Sharon Hamilton was brought in to lead the HTS Project. Her first tasks were to address personnel and recruiting issues, and restructure management practices. One of Hamilton's tasks has been to address inter-agency Human Terrain needs. On 8 March 2011, the Center for Complex Operations hosted a conference titled Inter-agency Human Terrain Program and Requirements.
The Center for Naval Analyses Assessment of the Human Terrain System contains the results of interviews of 19 out 71 commanders who were supported by the HTS Project.
At higher (e.g., Division
) echelons in the field, larger teams called Human Terrain & Analysis Teams (HTATs) may be deployed. Human Terrain System teams do not collect actionable military intelligence, nor do they participate in lethal targeting.
The teams which deploy and support combat units are the Human Terrain Teams (HTT). They are supported by a Research Reachback Center (RRC) performing in-depth, long-term cultural research and analysis. The RRC is an element based in the United States consisting of cells of regionally focused social scientists and uniformed and civilian analysts providing access to a wide body of academic knowledge in order to rapidly address social, political, economic, historic and cultural issues in their area.
The Human Terrain System further advertises a network of Subject Matter Expert
s (SMEs) consisting of on-call, micro-regional focused academic and civilian sector experts. In theory, they provide specific support to the RRC including planning, training, role-playing and research.
The HTT's tool kit is mapping Human terrain (MAP-HT) software, an automated database and presentation tool that allows teams to gather, store, manipulate, and provide cultural data from hundreds of categories. HTS has developed the MAP-HT Toolkit, an integrated software suite provided to HTTs for data visualization and reporting. This includes software for Mapping (for e.g., spatial distribution of tribes and related social entities), Link Charts (for example, power structures and social networks in informal economies), and Timelines. Some of the components in the toolkit include: ANTHROPAC, UCINET, Axis PRO, i2
Analyst's Notebook
, and TerraExplorer—a 3D earth visualization application provided by Skyline Software Systems, Inc.. The data gathered assists with subjects such as key regional personalities, social structures, links between clans and families, economic issues, public communications, and agricultural production. The data will be compiled and stored in a larger archive, in order to be accessible for the military and other government agencies.
and Afghanistan
to help military staffs in the field understand local cultures. "Academic embeds" as the social scientists on teams are known, help troops understand relevant cultural history, engage locals in a way they can appreciate, and incorporate knowledge about tribal traditions in conflict resolution. In interviews, US military officers in Afghanistan have stated that the aim of the program is to improve the performance of local government
officials, persuade tribesmen to join the police, ease poverty and protect villagers from the Taliban and criminals.
Human Terrain Teams consists of five members: a team leader, a cultural analyst, a regional studies analyst, a human terrain research manager, and a human terrain analyst. All act as experienced cultural advisers to the brigade commander. In order to further understand the responsibilities of each team member, one must comprehend the duties of each adviser:
Actual teams have ranged from three to eight members, and have ranged from entirely civilian to entirely military. Social scientists generally have come from fields other than anthropology. AnnaMaria Cardinalli
, for example, who attracted attention for her report on sexual practices in Afghanistan
, was a musician and theologian. The teams are fully integrated into unit staffs, providing advice on how to interact productively with the local population and represent the “human terrain” in planning, preparation, execution and assessment of operations.
HTT tours of duty are intended to bridge unit unit replacement cycles, ensuring a smooth and complete transfer of local area Human Terrain knowledge and cultural understanding as new units replace old ones. Subsequent to redeployment, many members of deployed HTTs return to function on the staff of HTS in various capacities, from research and analysis to training.
The HTT are responsible for three deliverables:
who see concrete results in improved understanding of social connections in the tribal cultures encountered during phase iv operations (operations aimed at stabilizing an area of operations in the aftermath of major combat). According to Col. Martin Schweitzer, commander of the 4th BCT
, 82nd Airborne, the unit’s combat operations in Afghanistan had been reduced by 60 percent over a period of eight months.
was expanded from one to six.
. Military Review defines embeds as "experienced cultural advisors" familiar with the area of operations. Embeds also work within the framework of an overall Human Terrain System which includes a relationship mapping schema
called MAP-HT.
To map relationships, teams create databases of:
as well as using mapped knowledge and cultural insights to advise brigade commanders. Embeds must also note and respond to the attitudes of US military culture, which values a "can do" attitude.
First response by HTTTL: "This article is reminiscent of so many other marketing pitches associated with ill-conceived Army programs. As a military officer who went through the training and deployed with HTS let me make the following two points emphatically. One, HTS under the Fondacaro/McFate regime were criminally negligent to send civilians into an active combat zone with absolutely NO combat training. Two, despite lip-service regarding the value of the various HTTs, the truth is that for the investment, there is no real value added. The military officers assigned similar tasks are more than up to the task. In fact, the best and most valuable tool I witnessed for engaging the civil population were Female Engagement Teams. HTTs are a waste of taxpayer dollars and an irresponsible danger to civilian personnel."
Second response by American Patriot: "Why are my gosh darned tax dollars being wasted on this egghead program? Every outside body that has looked into has concluded it doesn't work and is a boondogle, whether it was the American Anthropologist Association, the House Armed Services Committee, or dozens of angry former HTS employees, everyone agrees it is a waste of time and money, yet we have the two people who got rich running the program into the ground now bragging about how great it is, even after they were fired from the program for running it into the ground. Only in military circles can you find such high levels of government waste being so rewarded."
Third response by ArthurRadner: "This article adds nothing new to the discourse about HTS. In fact, my opinion is that this article is the same old defensive gloss brought to us by those who were once in charge. It obviates the myriad problems with the program, including poor training, absence of an institutional review board, and a paucity of lines of communication and regularly disseminated SOPs in which employees know what is expected of them and receive information about changes in expectations."
The creation and existence of HTS by DOD as a program has been supported strongly by the direct requests of Army and Marine units in the field, and captured in the CENTCOM JUONS of 2007. While there has been much discussion by a limited number of focused bloggers citing unnamed, unveriable sources have attempted to claim HTS was a "pet" project of GEN David Petraeus, in actuality GEN Petraeus was first briefed by the HTS Program Manager on the program in August, 2007 in Baghdad; well after the CENTCOM JUONS and DOD-directed expansion(April, 2007). HTS remains a functional and integrated program supporting US military efforts in the Middle East. However, its creation, resourcing and contributions in areas considered the exclusive domain of other organizations, internal and external to the US government, has generated criticism and competition.
While some non-government HTS critics try to argue that it was unnecessary to bring in academics, HTS has clearly stated that its social scientist team members are designed to be applied researchers directly supporting the commander's decision making process with real-time, operationally relevant cultural understanding. Further, the social scientists are only one member of a team, and is supported former and active career military members who assist is making this research operationally relevant and useful in helping the unit develop effective courses of action that solve the problems within the population that underpin the insurgency. One HTS's consistent messages has been that the uniqueness of its contributions are specifically not in support of lethal operations that are directly focused on countering IEDs and violent insurgents, because they are only the "symptoms" of the insurgency. By addressing these symptoms alone, the US only prolongs the violence and never resolves the fundamental issues fueling the insurgency. Especially when the focus on long-term discovery and learning by headquarters and units, and their ability to confidence-build with the population, at the local level, is further hampered by one year-rotations. HTS is focused on understanding and resolving the problems that underpin the population's support or tolerance of the insurgency, i.e. curing the "disease" of the insurgency. Another critical point has been based on the ethics surrounding informed consent. Though government legal review of HTS and the governing regulations (32 CFR 219.101b) determined HTS research met the criteria for exemption, criticism continued over perceived violation of the American Anthropological Organization's "Do No Harm" rule. HTS's position was that since this position was a standard that could never be objectively measured or applied. Further, it constituted a guideline based on inaction, i.e. "not doing harm" which could be interpreted in an infinite number of ways. HTS's position was that the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan required proactive solutions, and while harm was always possible in any action, the harm taking place daily due to inaction was undeniable.
Internal to the US government, the creation of HTS, driven by the demands of frustrated commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rapid resourcing of its unique approach, impinged on legacy bureaucratic areas of influence, long considered by numerous government organizations as their singular domains. This sometimes resulted in new, synergistic partnerships, as well as classic competition for resourcing and influence. Coordination by the HTS leadership throughout 2006-2007 with the Marine Corps Center for Advanced Operational Culture and Learning (CAOCL) and the US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC) was aggressive. While CAOCL, influenced heavily by the objections of the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA), repeatedly turned down the multiple HTS offers of interservice partnership, the senior leadership of USACAPOC voiced strong support. However the ongoing restructuring of Army Civil Affairs into separate US Army Special Operations Command and US Army Reserve elements made their direct support problematic. During the initial meeting with CAOCL in 2006, Major Ben Connable stated that MCIA was already accomplishing HTS's stated mission tasks with Marine units in the field, that the issue of military cultural understanding was MCIA's exclusive domain, and all HTS funding should be going to MCIA/CAOCL. The consistent and directly opposing feedback of Marine operational units in the field did not alter this position. While assignment of HTTs to meet the operational demands ofc Marine field units continued on schedule, the anti-HTS critical theme shifted from redundancy to one that attempted to link previous and current MCIA and Army Civil Affairs inabilities to address the issues in the field, with lack of resourcing due to HTS.
HTS is controversial amongst academic anthropologists, many of whom perceive it as an attempt to "weaponize" anthropology.
In 2007, the American Anthropological Association
published a statement opposing the Human Terrain System. They denounced HTT in October 2007, concerned it could lead to compromise of ethics
, disgrace to anthropology as an academic discipline
, and the endangerment of research subjects. Some academics denounce the program as “mercenary anthropology” that exploits social science for political gain, fearing HTT could cause all anthropologists to be viewed as intelligence-gatherers for the US military. Some academics draw comparisons to the Phoenix Program
and Project Camelot
during the Vietnam War
. According to Richard Shweder
, "Anthropologists feel almost polluted by contact with certain parts of the government. There's a breach-of-trust
issue there that hasn't been repaired." Conversely, these expressions of opinion from academic anthropologists has not precluded the participation by applied anthropologists in the program since 2006. David Matsuda, an academic embed from California
, counters the reaction in the anthropology community: "I came here to save lives, to make friends out of enemies."
On December 2, 2009, two years after denouncing HTS publicly, the American Anthropological Association released a report based on a year long research project that interviewed several dozen selected individuals associated with HTS and HTS critics. Notably, the research plan did not include any onsite visits to HTS training locations, HTS headquarters or military units where HTS teams have served, nor did the interviews include the HTS program manager, senior social scientist or any other members of the HTS program staff. The report supported its 2007 denouncement of HTS, concluding that HTS was such a poorly conceived and executed program that “When ethnographic investigation is determined by military missions, not subject to external review, where data collection occurs in the context of war, integrated into the goals of counterinsurgency, and in a potentially coercive environment -- all characteristic factors of the [Human Terrain System] concept and its application -- it can no longer be considered a legitimate professional exercise of anthropology.” The AAA assessment and what they consider their detailed accounts of how Human Terrain has not addressed ethical problems, plus the report’s finding that HTS data is used as intelligence by the military, served as the basis for their conclusion that the program is a severe distortion of anthropological research and principles. HTS leadership contended that the study's lack of discipline, inadequate research, and conclusions in support of an organizational statement made years prior were predictable, spoke for itself and did not warrant further comment.
, award winning author of The Assassin's Gate: America in Iraq and New Yorker Magazine staff writer writes of the use of social science by the Pentagon in its counterinsurgency efforts, interviews Dave Killcullen, Montgomery McFate and Steve Fondacaro. He analyzes in detail the use of social science in support of military operations, commenting "At a moment when the Bush Administration has run out of ideas and lost control, it could turn away from its “war on terror” and follow a different path—one that is right under its nose."
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/12/18/061218fa_fact2#ixzz1bytdTVKw
David Rohde two time Pulitzer prize winner with extensive experience in Afghanistan and Pakistan reports in the New York Times about the emlistment of social scientists in the counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan. Quoting a cavalry squadrom commander onsite Call it what you want, it works, said Colonel Woods, a native of Denbo, Pa. It works in helping you define the problems, not just the symptoms.
Ann Marlowe
, a writer who has written about Afghanistan, wrote a piece about HTT for the Weekly Standard in November 2007 stating that "there are some things the Army needs in Afghanistan, but more academics are not at the top of the list." Notably, she did not speak with the HTT directly.
Some academics denounce the program as "mercenary anthropology" that exploits social science for political gain, fearing HTS could cause all anthropologists to be viewed as intelligence-gatherers for the US military. Some academics attempt to draw comparisons to the Phoenix Program
and Project Camelot
during the Vietnam War
. According to Richard Shweder
, "Anthropologists feel almost polluted by contact with certain parts of the government. There's a breach-of-trust
issue there that hasn't been repaired."
Audrey Roberts
an HTT social scientist who spent close to two years on the ground supporting US Army Brigade at FOB SALERNO near Khost, Afghanistan expresses her clear reflection on the applicability of operationally relevant understanding of the problems within the population leads to resolution of the underpinnings of the insurgency. Jim Landers, Dallas Morning News, 13 March, 2009 http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80629
In 2009, the University of Chicago Press published American anthropologist Roberto Gonzalez's book, American Counterinsurgency: Human Science and the Human Terrain, which criticized the historical roots, methodologies and ethics of the Human Terrain program. In April 2009, anthropologist David Price published a list of ten critical flaws in the Human Terrain program that the press have failed to seriously address.
David Matsuda, an HTT Ph.D serving in Iraq, counters the reaction in the anthropology community: "I came here to save lives, to make friends out of enemies." Furthermore, Michael Bhatia, an embedded anthropologist killed while serving in Afghanistan, contended that the social science community at large had a lack of understanding of what the HTT did.
with a US Army platoon. She was doused with gasoline disguised in a jar of cooking oil and lit on fire by Abdul Salam, an Afghan national. Loyd was severely burned over 60 percent of her body. Salam ran immediately, running 50 meters towards Don M. Ayala, another member of the HTT. U.S. Army personnel and Ayala captured Salam as he tried to escape. About ten minutes later, after learning of the severity of Loyd's injuries, Ayala shot Salam in the head, killing him instantly. Loyd, 36, died at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio on January 7, 2009. Ayala pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia
in February 2009. On May 8, 2009, he was sentenced to five years probation and a $12,500 fine. On September 1, 2010, the Times-Picayune of Louisiana posted a documentary video of friends and family speaking in support of Ayala at sentencing.
Nicole Suveges, a HTT IZ3 member, was killed on June 24, 2008, along with 11 other Soldiers, Iraqi government official and US Embassy personnel when a bomb exploded at the District Council building in Sadr City.
Michael V. Bhatia
, a member of HTT AF1, was killed along with two other Soldiers while riding in a unit Humvee vehicle in Khost, Afghanistan in May 2008.
Both deaths were the result of command detonated mines/improvised explosive device
's.
An HTT anthropologist, Tracy St. Benoit, identified an unusually high concentration of widows in poverty, creating pressure on their sons to join the well-paid insurgents. Citing St. Benoit’s advice, US officers developed a job training program for the widows. She also interpreted the beheading of a local tribal elder as an effort to divide and weaken the Zadran, rather than mere intimidation
. As a result, Afghan and US officials focused on uniting the Zadran, one of southeastern Afghanistan’s most powerful tribe
s, thereby hindering the Taliban's operations in the area.
Stars and Stripes reported that in one Pashtun
village, Kuz Khadokhel, HTT made it possible for negotiator Captain Aaron White to understand body language
in the context of the culture, to identify leaders during negotiations, and to reinforce a perception of leadership by not conferring with fellow officers and by demonstrating good faith through projects facilitated by the Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team
, including roads, a visit by the PRT’s mobile medical clinic
, the construction of a deep well for irrigation
, and the beginnings of a road to Afghanistan’s main Highway 1.
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
program utilizing experts from social science disciplines such as anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
, regional studies and lingustics to provide military commanders and staff with an understanding of the local population. The goal is to give commanders insight into the population and how they may react in order to enhance operational effectiveness, save lives, and reduce military and civilian conflict.
The program was prompted by cultural problems between local populations and American forces after their invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
.
HTS has often been controversial with the American Anthropological Association
American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association is a professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 11,000 members, the Arlington, Virginia based association includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological anthropologists, linguistic...
in 2007 publishing a statement opposing it.
Background
The notion for the current HTS was suggested by Montgomery McFateMontgomery McFate
Montgomery McFate is a cultural anthropologist, a defense and national security analyst, and former Science Advisor to the United States Army Human Terrain System program. As of 2011, she holds the Minerva Chair at the U.S...
Ph.D., J.D., and Andrea Jackson within their article, "An Organizational Solution for Department of Defense’s Cultural Knowledge Needs", Military Review (July-August 2005), 1821. From July 2005 to August 2006, Captain Don Smith, U.S. Army Reserve, of the Foreign Military Studies Office, implemented the concept. According to this concept, human terrain may be defined as the human population and society in the task force environment, characterized by cultural, anthropological, and ethnographic information about the local society.
The HTS concept has been largely inspired by the lessons drawn from the United States experience in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military failed to take steps to understand the context of the Vietnamese cultural environment. The Vietnam-era CORDS experience provides crucial lessons that guide the development of an effective cultural intelligence program: one that can support tactical and operational level commanders today. By realizing former flaws, brigade commander and staff rely on the HTS for a better understanding of the cultures in which they are working in, especially for the preparation to face challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The primary functions of the HTS were explained in a defense contractor memo. The memo stressed the main duty of the members to find the ethno-cultural reasons for why villagers increased Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in red zones. In other words, the main purpose of HTS is to explain to the commanders and soldiers the reasoning behind guiding the enemy, and why they are hostile towards the US Army. It serves the greater purpose of explaining alien cultures to those who are culturally and geographically unaware. The defense contractor memo stated that the team would not work on patrols with the Brigade Combat Team
Brigade combat team
The brigade combat team is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the US Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its attached support and fire units. A brigade combat team is generally commanded by a colonel , but in rare instances it is commanded by...
(BCT). Instead, they would remain in the Green Zone and focus on the findings and observations of the returning BCT patrols in order to analyze cultural differences.
The Human Terrain System is no longer a proof-of-concept program though it is still under the auspices of United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
Established 1 July 1973, the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command is an army command of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Eustis, Virginia. It is charged with overseeing training of Army forces, the development of operational doctrine, and the development and procurement of...
. It was developed in response to identified gaps in commanders’ and staffs’ understanding of the local population and culture, the impact on operational decisions, and the poor transfer of specific socio-cultural knowledge to follow-on units.
According to the U.S. Army, the Human HTS has been specifically designed as a project to help brigade commanders and their staff address cultural awareness shortcomings at the operational and tactical levels by focusing on understanding the human terrain: the social, ethnographic, cultural, economic, and political elements of the local population surrounding them. By understanding the human terrain in which insurgents live and function, HTS provides the task force with social-scientific support that is used towards the military decision-making process.
The project provides commanders with cultural information, which, in fact transcends the methods of the traditional military intelligence systems. Through the HTS, commanders can succeed by understanding the cultural dimensions, such as values, language, and civilization, of the locals in order to better prepare their staff for the mission.
In late 2003, US officers in Iraq complained of poor local intelligence
Intelligence (information gathering)
Intelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...
. Dr. Hariar Cabayan recruited Cultural anthropologist Montgomery McFate while she working for the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
because she advocated using social science to improve military operations and strategy. McFate joined the program in 2007 and helped develop the CPE database in 2005 to provide units with detailed information on the local population. McFate resigned her position in 2010 and joined the U.S. Naval War College
Naval War College
The Naval War College is an education and research institution of the United States Navy that specializes in developing ideas for naval warfare and passing them along to officers of the Navy. The college is located on the grounds of Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island...
as the Minerva Chair (Strategic Research).
In July 2006, Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Steve Fondacaro (retired) was recruited by TRADOC G2 to manage the HTS program. In response to a Joint Urgent Operational Needs Statement from Central Command issued in April 2007, calling for HTS Team in every Army Brigade and Marine Corps Regiment in Iraq and Afghanistan, US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in September 2007 authorized a $40 million expansion of the program. Maxie McFarland
Maxie McFarland
Maxie McFarland was one of thirteen tier-3 US Government Defense Senior Executives, serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command located at Fort Monroe, VA...
, the TRADOC G2, suddenly terminated Fondacaro's temporary position as HTS Program Manager in June 2010 for reasons that have not yet been made public. It was known that Contract and Human Resource Management, both functions having been retained exclusively by TRADOC G2 office since 2006, were issues of strong disagreement. Publicly, TRADOC G2 stated the Program Manager position was going be filled as a government position through competition and selection, however after initial announcement on USAJobs, the position was cancelled and the manager position was filled by McFarland's executive officer and long-time colleague, COL Sharon Hamilton.
In 2009, the US Congress directed that an independent assessment be performed to determine the state of the HTS Project. The task was sourced to the Center for Naval Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia by the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.
The US Army conducted its own internal investigation of HTS as well but that report is not available to the public.
In 2010, a new program manager, Colonel Sharon Hamilton was brought in to lead the HTS Project. Her first tasks were to address personnel and recruiting issues, and restructure management practices. One of Hamilton's tasks has been to address inter-agency Human Terrain needs. On 8 March 2011, the Center for Complex Operations hosted a conference titled Inter-agency Human Terrain Program and Requirements.
The Center for Naval Analyses Assessment of the Human Terrain System contains the results of interviews of 19 out 71 commanders who were supported by the HTS Project.
Funding
The initial funding for the Human Terrain System, which started off as the Cultural Operations Research - Human Terrain System (COR-HTS), came from the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO). With initial JIEDDO funding, HTS began a 5 team proof-of-concept effort that was to develop training curriculum, train and deploy teams (3 teams to Iraq/2 teams to Afghanistan) over a 2 year period. The objective of this effort was to validate the concept of expert civilian-military teams attached to deployed units in combat performing applied research to support optimal course of action development and selection by units, based on a more complete understanding of the local population. The enthusiastic support for HTS's approach in support of existing Operational Needs Statement by Army and Marine Corps units, US Central Command submitted a Joint Urgent Operational Needs Statement (JUONS) in April, 2007 requesting HTS support for all Division-level headquarters, Army Brigades and Marine Corps Regiments deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Later that month, the HTS JUONS was approved for funding by the DOD Joint Rapid Aquisition Cell. This action effectively increased the HTS mission from 5 teams over 2 years, to 26 teams as soon as possible. DOD provided HTS funding until 2009 when funding resposnibilities were asumed by Army G2.HTS design
The approach is to place the expertise and experience of social scientists and regional experts, coupled with reach-back, open-source research, directly in support of deployed units engaging in military operations. HTS informs decision-makers at the tactical, operational and strategic levels. The HTS project is the first time that the military has done social science research and advising on a large scale, and at the brigade level.At higher (e.g., Division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
) echelons in the field, larger teams called Human Terrain & Analysis Teams (HTATs) may be deployed. Human Terrain System teams do not collect actionable military intelligence, nor do they participate in lethal targeting.
The teams which deploy and support combat units are the Human Terrain Teams (HTT). They are supported by a Research Reachback Center (RRC) performing in-depth, long-term cultural research and analysis. The RRC is an element based in the United States consisting of cells of regionally focused social scientists and uniformed and civilian analysts providing access to a wide body of academic knowledge in order to rapidly address social, political, economic, historic and cultural issues in their area.
The Human Terrain System further advertises a network of Subject Matter Expert
Subject Matter Expert
A subject matter expert or domain expert is a person who is an expert in a particular area or topic. When spoken, sometimes the acronym "SME" is spelled out and other times voiced as a word ....
s (SMEs) consisting of on-call, micro-regional focused academic and civilian sector experts. In theory, they provide specific support to the RRC including planning, training, role-playing and research.
The HTT's tool kit is mapping Human terrain (MAP-HT) software, an automated database and presentation tool that allows teams to gather, store, manipulate, and provide cultural data from hundreds of categories. HTS has developed the MAP-HT Toolkit, an integrated software suite provided to HTTs for data visualization and reporting. This includes software for Mapping (for e.g., spatial distribution of tribes and related social entities), Link Charts (for example, power structures and social networks in informal economies), and Timelines. Some of the components in the toolkit include: ANTHROPAC, UCINET, Axis PRO, i2
I2 Limited
i2 Ltd. is the UK-based arm of software company i2 Group which produces visual intelligence and investigative analysis software for military, law enforcement, intelligence and commercial agencies.-Products and Areas of Business:...
Analyst's Notebook
Analyst's Notebook
Analyst's Notebook is a software product from i2 Limited used for data analysis and investigation. It is a part of the Human Terrain System, a United States Army program which embeds social scientists with combat brigades. Several investigations, including an investigation into fraud in the U.S....
, and TerraExplorer—a 3D earth visualization application provided by Skyline Software Systems, Inc.. The data gathered assists with subjects such as key regional personalities, social structures, links between clans and families, economic issues, public communications, and agricultural production. The data will be compiled and stored in a larger archive, in order to be accessible for the military and other government agencies.
Human Terrain Teams
Human Terrain Teams (HTT), which began in late 2003, are social scientists and former/active military teams, embedded with deployed headquarters at Theater, Division, regional commands, and combat brigades in IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
to help military staffs in the field understand local cultures. "Academic embeds" as the social scientists on teams are known, help troops understand relevant cultural history, engage locals in a way they can appreciate, and incorporate knowledge about tribal traditions in conflict resolution. In interviews, US military officers in Afghanistan have stated that the aim of the program is to improve the performance of local government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
officials, persuade tribesmen to join the police, ease poverty and protect villagers from the Taliban and criminals.
Human Terrain Teams consists of five members: a team leader, a cultural analyst, a regional studies analyst, a human terrain research manager, and a human terrain analyst. All act as experienced cultural advisers to the brigade commander. In order to further understand the responsibilities of each team member, one must comprehend the duties of each adviser:
- Leader: a principal human terrain adviser who is responsible for the entire team and must support the team's mission as well as efforts to improve the decision process. Must have spent time as a principal brigade staff officer and be a standing major or lieutenant colonel.
- Cultural analyst: deals with conducting and managing ethnographic and social-science research and analysis for the brigade staff's area of operations. Must be a qualified social scientist. Preference goes to those with knowledge of geographical imaging software as well as strong fluency in the language of the local community. Preference will be given to those who have an outstanding background in the region through past studies, living and teaching experiences.
- Regional studies analyst: Similar qualifications and skills as the cultural analyst.
- Research manager: integrates the human terrain research plan with unit intelligence collection effort, debriefs patrols, and interacts with other agencies and organizations. Must have a background in tactical intelligence.
- Human terrain analyst: acts as the primary human terrain data researcher by debriefing patrols and interacting with other agencies and organizations. Must have a background in military intelligence and be a trained debriefer.
Actual teams have ranged from three to eight members, and have ranged from entirely civilian to entirely military. Social scientists generally have come from fields other than anthropology. AnnaMaria Cardinalli
AnnaMaria Cardinalli
AnnaMaria Cardinalli is an American Military Investigator, Classical Guitarist, and operatic Mezzo-Soprano.- Education :...
, for example, who attracted attention for her report on sexual practices in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, was a musician and theologian. The teams are fully integrated into unit staffs, providing advice on how to interact productively with the local population and represent the “human terrain” in planning, preparation, execution and assessment of operations.
HTT tours of duty are intended to bridge unit unit replacement cycles, ensuring a smooth and complete transfer of local area Human Terrain knowledge and cultural understanding as new units replace old ones. Subsequent to redeployment, many members of deployed HTTs return to function on the staff of HTS in various capacities, from research and analysis to training.
The HTT are responsible for three deliverables:
- A constantly updated, user-friendly ethnographic and socio-cultural database of the area of operations that composes data maps showing specific ethnographic or cultural features.
- The ability to raise points on cultural or ethnographic issues of specific concern to the commander.
- Establishing a connection to a central research facility in the United States that draws on government and academic sources to answer any cultural or ethnographic questions the deployed task force might have.
Efficacy
The approach was first applied in Afghanistan in 2006 and has since won the praise of officersOfficer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
who see concrete results in improved understanding of social connections in the tribal cultures encountered during phase iv operations (operations aimed at stabilizing an area of operations in the aftermath of major combat). According to Col. Martin Schweitzer, commander of the 4th BCT
Brigade combat team
The brigade combat team is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the US Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its attached support and fire units. A brigade combat team is generally commanded by a colonel , but in rare instances it is commanded by...
, 82nd Airborne, the unit’s combat operations in Afghanistan had been reduced by 60 percent over a period of eight months.
Success
HTS should be acknowledged for advising a US military unit in Iraq on proper mealtime etiquette, i.e., not only how to properly eat, but also the gestures during the meal, and especially how to observe the Ramadan feast.Expansion
In September 2007 US Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates authorized a $40 million expansion of the program. Teams of anthropologists and social scientists are expected to be assigned to each of the 26 US combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of October 2007, the number of teams in BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
was expanded from one to six.
Methods
Teams are composed of five members: two civilians and three military personnel, according to Stars and StripesStars and Stripes (newspaper)
Stars and Stripes is a news source that operates from inside the United States Department of Defense but is editorially separate from it. The First Amendment protection which Stars and Stripes enjoys is safeguarded by Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests,...
. Military Review defines embeds as "experienced cultural advisors" familiar with the area of operations. Embeds also work within the framework of an overall Human Terrain System which includes a relationship mapping schema
Database schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
called MAP-HT.
To map relationships, teams create databases of:
- local leaders
- tribes
- political disputes
- economic issues
- social problems
as well as using mapped knowledge and cultural insights to advise brigade commanders. Embeds must also note and respond to the attitudes of US military culture, which values a "can do" attitude.
Criticisms
The recent updates to this Wiki entry were made by Colonel Steve Fondacaro, USA (Ret.), former program manager of the Human Terrain System. They are drawn in good measure from a co-authored piece in the September issue of PRISM by Mr. Fondacaro and former Human Terrain System senior social scientist Montgomery McFate. PRISM is part of the Center for Complex Operations located at the National Defense University. The article is titled, "Reflections on the Human Terrain System during the First Four Years." There were three online responses to the Fondacaro and McFate piece in PRISM. The responses were posted, after review by PRISM editors, online in the comments section. They are listed below.First response by HTTTL: "This article is reminiscent of so many other marketing pitches associated with ill-conceived Army programs. As a military officer who went through the training and deployed with HTS let me make the following two points emphatically. One, HTS under the Fondacaro/McFate regime were criminally negligent to send civilians into an active combat zone with absolutely NO combat training. Two, despite lip-service regarding the value of the various HTTs, the truth is that for the investment, there is no real value added. The military officers assigned similar tasks are more than up to the task. In fact, the best and most valuable tool I witnessed for engaging the civil population were Female Engagement Teams. HTTs are a waste of taxpayer dollars and an irresponsible danger to civilian personnel."
Second response by American Patriot: "Why are my gosh darned tax dollars being wasted on this egghead program? Every outside body that has looked into has concluded it doesn't work and is a boondogle, whether it was the American Anthropologist Association, the House Armed Services Committee, or dozens of angry former HTS employees, everyone agrees it is a waste of time and money, yet we have the two people who got rich running the program into the ground now bragging about how great it is, even after they were fired from the program for running it into the ground. Only in military circles can you find such high levels of government waste being so rewarded."
Third response by ArthurRadner: "This article adds nothing new to the discourse about HTS. In fact, my opinion is that this article is the same old defensive gloss brought to us by those who were once in charge. It obviates the myriad problems with the program, including poor training, absence of an institutional review board, and a paucity of lines of communication and regularly disseminated SOPs in which employees know what is expected of them and receive information about changes in expectations."
The creation and existence of HTS by DOD as a program has been supported strongly by the direct requests of Army and Marine units in the field, and captured in the CENTCOM JUONS of 2007. While there has been much discussion by a limited number of focused bloggers citing unnamed, unveriable sources have attempted to claim HTS was a "pet" project of GEN David Petraeus, in actuality GEN Petraeus was first briefed by the HTS Program Manager on the program in August, 2007 in Baghdad; well after the CENTCOM JUONS and DOD-directed expansion(April, 2007). HTS remains a functional and integrated program supporting US military efforts in the Middle East. However, its creation, resourcing and contributions in areas considered the exclusive domain of other organizations, internal and external to the US government, has generated criticism and competition.
While some non-government HTS critics try to argue that it was unnecessary to bring in academics, HTS has clearly stated that its social scientist team members are designed to be applied researchers directly supporting the commander's decision making process with real-time, operationally relevant cultural understanding. Further, the social scientists are only one member of a team, and is supported former and active career military members who assist is making this research operationally relevant and useful in helping the unit develop effective courses of action that solve the problems within the population that underpin the insurgency. One HTS's consistent messages has been that the uniqueness of its contributions are specifically not in support of lethal operations that are directly focused on countering IEDs and violent insurgents, because they are only the "symptoms" of the insurgency. By addressing these symptoms alone, the US only prolongs the violence and never resolves the fundamental issues fueling the insurgency. Especially when the focus on long-term discovery and learning by headquarters and units, and their ability to confidence-build with the population, at the local level, is further hampered by one year-rotations. HTS is focused on understanding and resolving the problems that underpin the population's support or tolerance of the insurgency, i.e. curing the "disease" of the insurgency. Another critical point has been based on the ethics surrounding informed consent. Though government legal review of HTS and the governing regulations (32 CFR 219.101b) determined HTS research met the criteria for exemption, criticism continued over perceived violation of the American Anthropological Organization's "Do No Harm" rule. HTS's position was that since this position was a standard that could never be objectively measured or applied. Further, it constituted a guideline based on inaction, i.e. "not doing harm" which could be interpreted in an infinite number of ways. HTS's position was that the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan required proactive solutions, and while harm was always possible in any action, the harm taking place daily due to inaction was undeniable.
Internal to the US government, the creation of HTS, driven by the demands of frustrated commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rapid resourcing of its unique approach, impinged on legacy bureaucratic areas of influence, long considered by numerous government organizations as their singular domains. This sometimes resulted in new, synergistic partnerships, as well as classic competition for resourcing and influence. Coordination by the HTS leadership throughout 2006-2007 with the Marine Corps Center for Advanced Operational Culture and Learning (CAOCL) and the US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC) was aggressive. While CAOCL, influenced heavily by the objections of the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA), repeatedly turned down the multiple HTS offers of interservice partnership, the senior leadership of USACAPOC voiced strong support. However the ongoing restructuring of Army Civil Affairs into separate US Army Special Operations Command and US Army Reserve elements made their direct support problematic. During the initial meeting with CAOCL in 2006, Major Ben Connable stated that MCIA was already accomplishing HTS's stated mission tasks with Marine units in the field, that the issue of military cultural understanding was MCIA's exclusive domain, and all HTS funding should be going to MCIA/CAOCL. The consistent and directly opposing feedback of Marine operational units in the field did not alter this position. While assignment of HTTs to meet the operational demands ofc Marine field units continued on schedule, the anti-HTS critical theme shifted from redundancy to one that attempted to link previous and current MCIA and Army Civil Affairs inabilities to address the issues in the field, with lack of resourcing due to HTS.
HTS is controversial amongst academic anthropologists, many of whom perceive it as an attempt to "weaponize" anthropology.
In 2007, the American Anthropological Association
American Anthropological Association
The American Anthropological Association is a professional organization of scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology. With 11,000 members, the Arlington, Virginia based association includes archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, biological anthropologists, linguistic...
published a statement opposing the Human Terrain System. They denounced HTT in October 2007, concerned it could lead to compromise of ethics
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
, disgrace to anthropology as an academic discipline
Academic discipline
An academic discipline, or field of study, is a branch of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined , and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to...
, and the endangerment of research subjects. Some academics denounce the program as “mercenary anthropology” that exploits social science for political gain, fearing HTT could cause all anthropologists to be viewed as intelligence-gatherers for the US military. Some academics draw comparisons to the Phoenix Program
Phoenix Program
The Phoenix Program |phoenix]]) was a controversial counterinsurgency program designed, coordinated, and executed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , United States special operations forces, and the Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus during the Vietnam War that operated...
and Project Camelot
Project Camelot
Project Camelot was a social science research project of the United States Army that started in 1964 and was cancelled after congressional hearings in 1965. The goal of the project was to assess the causes of conflict between national groups, to anticipate social breakdown and provide eventual...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. According to Richard Shweder
Richard Shweder
Richard A. Shweder, is an American cultural anthropologist and a significant figure in cultural psychology. He received his B.A. in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966 and his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University's Department of Social Relations in 1972. He taught...
, "Anthropologists feel almost polluted by contact with certain parts of the government. There's a breach-of-trust
Breach of confidence
The tort of breach of confidence, is a common law tort that protects private information that is conveyed in confidence. A claim for breach of confidence typically requires the information to be of a confidential nature, which was communicated in confidence, and was disclosed to the detriment of...
issue there that hasn't been repaired." Conversely, these expressions of opinion from academic anthropologists has not precluded the participation by applied anthropologists in the program since 2006. David Matsuda, an academic embed from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, counters the reaction in the anthropology community: "I came here to save lives, to make friends out of enemies."
On December 2, 2009, two years after denouncing HTS publicly, the American Anthropological Association released a report based on a year long research project that interviewed several dozen selected individuals associated with HTS and HTS critics. Notably, the research plan did not include any onsite visits to HTS training locations, HTS headquarters or military units where HTS teams have served, nor did the interviews include the HTS program manager, senior social scientist or any other members of the HTS program staff. The report supported its 2007 denouncement of HTS, concluding that HTS was such a poorly conceived and executed program that “When ethnographic investigation is determined by military missions, not subject to external review, where data collection occurs in the context of war, integrated into the goals of counterinsurgency, and in a potentially coercive environment -- all characteristic factors of the [Human Terrain System] concept and its application -- it can no longer be considered a legitimate professional exercise of anthropology.” The AAA assessment and what they consider their detailed accounts of how Human Terrain has not addressed ethical problems, plus the report’s finding that HTS data is used as intelligence by the military, served as the basis for their conclusion that the program is a severe distortion of anthropological research and principles. HTS leadership contended that the study's lack of discipline, inadequate research, and conclusions in support of an organizational statement made years prior were predictable, spoke for itself and did not warrant further comment.
Media
George PackerGeorge Packer
George Packer is an American journalist, novelist and playwright.-Biography:Packer's parents, Nancy Packer and Herbert Packer, were both academics at Stanford University; his maternal grandfather was George Huddleston, a congressman from Alabama. His sister, Ann Packer, is also a writer...
, award winning author of The Assassin's Gate: America in Iraq and New Yorker Magazine staff writer writes of the use of social science by the Pentagon in its counterinsurgency efforts, interviews Dave Killcullen, Montgomery McFate and Steve Fondacaro. He analyzes in detail the use of social science in support of military operations, commenting "At a moment when the Bush Administration has run out of ideas and lost control, it could turn away from its “war on terror” and follow a different path—one that is right under its nose."
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/12/18/061218fa_fact2#ixzz1bytdTVKw
David Rohde two time Pulitzer prize winner with extensive experience in Afghanistan and Pakistan reports in the New York Times about the emlistment of social scientists in the counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan. Quoting a cavalry squadrom commander onsite Call it what you want, it works, said Colonel Woods, a native of Denbo, Pa. It works in helping you define the problems, not just the symptoms.
Ann Marlowe
Ann Marlowe
Ann Rachel Marlowe is an American critic, journalist and writer working in New York City. She was born in Suffern, New York.Marlowe published rock criticism in the early to mid 1990s in the Village Voice, LA Weekly, Artforum, and Spin...
, a writer who has written about Afghanistan, wrote a piece about HTT for the Weekly Standard in November 2007 stating that "there are some things the Army needs in Afghanistan, but more academics are not at the top of the list." Notably, she did not speak with the HTT directly.
Some academics denounce the program as "mercenary anthropology" that exploits social science for political gain, fearing HTS could cause all anthropologists to be viewed as intelligence-gatherers for the US military. Some academics attempt to draw comparisons to the Phoenix Program
Phoenix Program
The Phoenix Program |phoenix]]) was a controversial counterinsurgency program designed, coordinated, and executed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , United States special operations forces, and the Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus during the Vietnam War that operated...
and Project Camelot
Project Camelot
Project Camelot was a social science research project of the United States Army that started in 1964 and was cancelled after congressional hearings in 1965. The goal of the project was to assess the causes of conflict between national groups, to anticipate social breakdown and provide eventual...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. According to Richard Shweder
Richard Shweder
Richard A. Shweder, is an American cultural anthropologist and a significant figure in cultural psychology. He received his B.A. in anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966 and his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University's Department of Social Relations in 1972. He taught...
, "Anthropologists feel almost polluted by contact with certain parts of the government. There's a breach-of-trust
Breach of confidence
The tort of breach of confidence, is a common law tort that protects private information that is conveyed in confidence. A claim for breach of confidence typically requires the information to be of a confidential nature, which was communicated in confidence, and was disclosed to the detriment of...
issue there that hasn't been repaired."
Audrey Roberts
Audrey Roberts
Audrey Roberts is a long-standing fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actress Sue Nicholls, the character first appeared during the episode aired on 16 April 1979....
an HTT social scientist who spent close to two years on the ground supporting US Army Brigade at FOB SALERNO near Khost, Afghanistan expresses her clear reflection on the applicability of operationally relevant understanding of the problems within the population leads to resolution of the underpinnings of the insurgency. Jim Landers, Dallas Morning News, 13 March, 2009 http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80629
In 2009, the University of Chicago Press published American anthropologist Roberto Gonzalez's book, American Counterinsurgency: Human Science and the Human Terrain, which criticized the historical roots, methodologies and ethics of the Human Terrain program. In April 2009, anthropologist David Price published a list of ten critical flaws in the Human Terrain program that the press have failed to seriously address.
David Matsuda, an HTT Ph.D serving in Iraq, counters the reaction in the anthropology community: "I came here to save lives, to make friends out of enemies." Furthermore, Michael Bhatia, an embedded anthropologist killed while serving in Afghanistan, contended that the social science community at large had a lack of understanding of what the HTT did.
Deaths
On November 4, 2008, HTT member Paula Loyd was surveying the village of Chehel GaziChehel Gazi
-External links:*...
with a US Army platoon. She was doused with gasoline disguised in a jar of cooking oil and lit on fire by Abdul Salam, an Afghan national. Loyd was severely burned over 60 percent of her body. Salam ran immediately, running 50 meters towards Don M. Ayala, another member of the HTT. U.S. Army personnel and Ayala captured Salam as he tried to escape. About ten minutes later, after learning of the severity of Loyd's injuries, Ayala shot Salam in the head, killing him instantly. Loyd, 36, died at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio on January 7, 2009. Ayala pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
in February 2009. On May 8, 2009, he was sentenced to five years probation and a $12,500 fine. On September 1, 2010, the Times-Picayune of Louisiana posted a documentary video of friends and family speaking in support of Ayala at sentencing.
Nicole Suveges, a HTT IZ3 member, was killed on June 24, 2008, along with 11 other Soldiers, Iraqi government official and US Embassy personnel when a bomb exploded at the District Council building in Sadr City.
Michael V. Bhatia
Michael V. Bhatia
Michael V. Bhatia was born in Upland, California on August 23, 1976. He attended Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in International Relations in 1999. He was the recipient of the Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship and a Marshall Scholarship to study at the...
, a member of HTT AF1, was killed along with two other Soldiers while riding in a unit Humvee vehicle in Khost, Afghanistan in May 2008.
Both deaths were the result of command detonated mines/improvised explosive device
Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
's.
Operation Khyber
During a 15-day drive in late summer of 2007, 500 Afghan and 500 US soldiers tried to:- clear an estimated 200 to 250 Taliban insurgents out of much of Paktia ProvincePaktia ProvincePaktia , is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, in the east of the country. Its capital is Gardez. The population is predominantly Pashtun.- History:...
- secure southeastern Afghanistan’s most important road
- halt a string of suicide attacks on US troops and local governors
An HTT anthropologist, Tracy St. Benoit, identified an unusually high concentration of widows in poverty, creating pressure on their sons to join the well-paid insurgents. Citing St. Benoit’s advice, US officers developed a job training program for the widows. She also interpreted the beheading of a local tribal elder as an effort to divide and weaken the Zadran, rather than mere intimidation
Intimidation
Intimidation is intentional behavior "which would cause a person of ordinary sensibilities" fear of injury or harm. It's not necessary to prove that the behavior was so violent as to cause terror or that the victim was actually frightened.Criminal threatening is the crime of intentionally or...
. As a result, Afghan and US officials focused on uniting the Zadran, one of southeastern Afghanistan’s most powerful tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s, thereby hindering the Taliban's operations in the area.
Operation Maiwand
800 Afghan soldiers, 400 U.S. soldiers and 200 Afghan policemen took part in the operation, in which Afghan soldiers raided houses of suspected militants.Stars and Stripes reported that in one Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
village, Kuz Khadokhel, HTT made it possible for negotiator Captain Aaron White to understand body language
Body language
Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals almost entirely subconsciously....
in the context of the culture, to identify leaders during negotiations, and to reinforce a perception of leadership by not conferring with fellow officers and by demonstrating good faith through projects facilitated by the Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team
Provincial reconstruction team
A Provincial Reconstruction Team is a unit introduced by the United States government, consisting of military officers, diplomats, and reconstruction subject matter experts, working to support reconstruction efforts in unstable states. PRTs were first established in Afghanistan in late 2001 or...
, including roads, a visit by the PRT’s mobile medical clinic
Field hospital
A field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
, the construction of a deep well for irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
, and the beginnings of a road to Afghanistan’s main Highway 1.
Notable academic embeds
- Michael V. BhatiaMichael V. BhatiaMichael V. Bhatia was born in Upland, California on August 23, 1976. He attended Brown University, where he graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in International Relations in 1999. He was the recipient of the Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship and a Marshall Scholarship to study at the...
(killed while serving with a HTT in Khost, Afghanistan in May 2008) - Robert Holbert
- Fouad Lghzaoui
- Paula Loyd (doused with fuel and set alight by an Afghan male on November 2008; died two months later in Brooke Army Medical CenterBrooke Army Medical CenterBrooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio is part of the United States Army Medical Command. It is a University of Texas Health Science Center and USUHS teaching hospital and contains the Army Burn Center....
) - David Matsuda
- Nicole Suveges (killed on duty as HTT-member on June 24, 2008 when a bomb exploded at the District Council building in Sadr City)
See also
- Cultural anthropologyCultural anthropologyCultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
- Military intelligenceMilitary intelligenceMilitary intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
- Synthetic psychological environmentSynthetic psychological environmentIn a synthetic environment, Synthetic Psychological Environment refers to the representation of influences to individuals and groups as a result of culture In a synthetic environment, Synthetic Psychological Environment (SPE) (or rules of behavior) refers to the representation (i.e. modeling) of...
External links
- Human Terrain Analysis at George Mason University
- Official HTS website
- Harmonieweb (HTS "open source" portal)
Articles
- Cyril Mychalejko and Ramor Ryan, "U.S. Military Funded Mapping Project in Oaxaca: Geographers used to gather intelligence?
- US Army: The Human Terrain System: A CORDS for the 21st Century by Dr. Jake Kipp.
- US Army: Why we need ethnographic intelligence
- Stars and Stripes: Cultural advisers give U.S. teams an edge
- BBC News: US Army enlists anthropologists
- NY Times: Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones
- Democracy Now! Anthropologists Up in Arms Over Pentagon’s “Human Terrain System” to Recruit Graduate Students to Serve in Iraq, Afghanistan
- http://concerned.anthropologists.googlepages.com/ Network of Concerned Anthropologists
- http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/26/iraq.american.death/index.html 2nd Academic Embed Dies in Iraq
- New York Times article on Human Terrain Teams by David Rohde.
- Anthropologists and War - Diane Rehm Radio Show on Human Terrain Teams - October 2007
- Gun in One Hand, A Pen in the Other
- McFate explains Human Terrain Teams
- Anthropologists and the Military’s Human Terrain System
- Men's Journal - Afghanistan: The New War for Hearts and Minds by Robert Young Pelton
- Human Terrain Team Handbook Sep 2008
- Anthropology Goes to War - The Weekly Standard by Ann Marlowe
- Human Terrain Analysis: A Social Revolution - Imaging Notes by Richard E. Heimann