BRILLIANT STILETTO: Tactical Strikes and Preemption.

This monograph examines the implications for planning and conducting strike operations to achieve preemption of threats within the fundamentally altered post-Cold War security environment. The underlying premise is that doctrine and tactics based on the Cold War paradigm of combat are of limited relevance. Increasingly the nature of new threats and the blurring of the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war resulting from the emerging security environment , advanced weapons technology and digital communications dictate the need for both lethal and non-lethal preemptive strikes supported by information operations. Five preemptive strike operations are presented and examined, and their characteristics identified. The five strike operations suitable for achieving preemption are interception, ambush, decapitation, critical link strike, and coup de main. These strike operations are further delineated into categories of counterforce and countersystem strikes for planning and targeting purposes.