WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. military personnel have to make a cultural shift in the "Long War" on terror, a senior DoD official said Monday.
Army Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the American Forces Press Service in an interview that the generation of servicemembers entering the military must focus on how the United States will deal with extremist networks that threaten America and its allies.
Odierno said the situation was analogous to the situation confronting servicemembers who fought the Cold War.
"This generation of servicemembers will be in what we're calling the Long War," the general said. "Our estimate is that for at least the next 20 years, part of our focus will be on how do we deal with the extremist networks that will continue to threaten the United States and its allies."
Conventional forces must remain robust and their capabilities must remain second to none, but the military's focus would have to broaden to include a greater emphasis on special operations, Odierno said. "We have to be able to respond conventionally if necessary, but we must provide more focus on irregular warfare missions," he said.
The Long War will require different military capabilities and require U.S. leaders to develop a holistic concept of how to defeat these networks.
Odierno said this would entail being able to coordinate the military aspect of the fight with the efforts of diplomats, financial experts, police officials and others. It also would entail countering propaganda and misinformation extremists release.
