The Battle Behind the Wire

Although prisoner of war and detainee operations ultimately tend to become quite extensive, military planners and policymakers have repeatedly treated such operations as an afterthought. In reality, such operations can be a central part of the successful prosecution of a conflict. Determining how to gain knowledge from, hold, question, influence, and release captured adversaries can be an important component of military strategy and doctrine, both during the conflict and in reconstruction afterward. This monograph finds parallels in U.S. prisoner and detainee operations in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq: underestimation of the number to be held, hasty scrambling for resources to meet operational needs, and inadequate doctrine and policy. During the later phases of military operations, an attempt is often made to better understand prisoners and detainees and influence their social and political values, which is particularly important in an insurgency where the value of understanding the motivation and morale of opposing forces is heightened. A key recommendation, based on lessons learned from these conflicts, is the development of standard doctrine for detention operations. This doctrine must be responsive to the dynamic nature of military campaigns and should include standard methods for assessing the composition of the detention population, managing special populations, and developing strategic plans for detention operations, including how detention operations should inform the wider operational strategy, especially in a counterinsurgency.