Civil Affairs History and Doctrine: From Military Government to Interagency Partner

The Army has always had an obligation to safeguard civilians on the battlefield, minimize human suffering, and maintain order in territory it occupies. In the early history of the Army this requirement was completely at the discretion of a field commander within the laws of war. Seeing the large-scale military-led reconstruction efforts required after both World Wars, the Army created a Civil Affairs (CA)/Military Government capability that, because of its low priority for peacetime training and readiness, has historically been unprepared to fulfill its duties, which naturally accompany modern warfare. These missions have gradually given way to a civilian-led methodology of development for which Army CA is not currently optimized. Through a series of doctrinal and historical evolutions, CA has evolved into a primarily interagency tool for achieving U.S. strategic goals in threatened states under U.S. diplomatic control.