Sustaining the Gray Zone: An Operational Concept

United States military supremacy created the gray zone war. Russia, China, and Iran are adapting to the US creation of the gray zone and wage gray zone war against the United States in a non-synchronized but complimentary approach. This action continues to erode global US authority and ability to sustain international norms. By understanding that key US adversaries, as outlined in numerous National Security Strategies, have modified their doctrine to wage gray zone war against the US lends to a realization of an operational level of war necessary at the national level in order to sustain the necessary gray zone or risk escalations leading to large-scale traditional war.