This study proposes a new way of viewing urban operations, among the most complex challenges facing America's armed forces. Viewing urban operations in light of relevant densities, regardless of whether combat, stability, or support missions predominate, offers a viable means of approaching an otherwise most imposing puzzle. Doing so provides a vehicle to better understand how to conceptualize issues of pertinence,the tasks and missions that will address those issues, and the specific ways of employing elements of national power in the service of strategic objectives. Following an overview of density's potential influence on military operations, the author proposes and discusses five approaches to dealing with its challenges: Matching density with density, effectively reducing densities, maintaining selected densities, addressing density asymmetrically, and capitalizing on urban densities. He concludes with an analysis of density and its implications for information operations conducted in builtup areas.

First published by the Combat Studies Institute Press. The resulting anthology begins with a general overview of urban operations from ancient times to the midpoint of the twentieth century. It then details ten specific case studies of U.S., German, and Japanese operations in cities during World War II and ends with more recent Russian attempts to subdue Chechen fighters in Grozny and the Serbian siege of Sarajevo. Operations range across the spectrum from combat to humanitarian and disaster relief. Each chapter contains a narrative account of a designated operation, identifying and analyzing the lessons that remain relevant today.

This publication has been prepared under the direction of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). It sets forth joint doctrine to govern the activities and performance of the Armed Forces of the United States in joint operations and provides the doctrinal basis for interagency coordination and for US military involvement in multinational operations. It provides military guidance for the exercise of authority by combatant commanders and other joint force commanders (JFCs) and prescribes joint doctrine for operations, education, and training. It provides military guidance for use by the Armed Forces in preparing their appropriate plans. It is not the intent of this publication to restrict the authority of the JFC from organizing the force and executing the mission in a manner the JFC deems most appropriate to ensure unity of effort in the accomplishment of the overall objective.

The inevitability of U.S. Armed Forces future involvement in urban contingencies worldwide demands that those responsible for arming, manning, sustaining, and otherwise supporting these operations prepare for the challenges inherent in such undertakings. This report provides an overview of these tasks and ways in which the U.S. Army combat service support (CSS) community can prepare itself to meet them. The authors conclude that CSS operations, like other ground force undertakings, need not undergo fundamental changes simply because the environment is urban. CSS personnel approaching urban tasks will be better served by employing tried-and-true doctrine while anticipating and adapting to environmental conditions; recognizing that command and control requirements within CSS functional areas and between CSS, combat support, and combat elements should be uniform; and maintaining the flexibility essential to overcoming the extraordinary challenges inherent in urban undertakings. In the course of this study, the authors conducted literature reviews and interviews, and they drew on extensive prior research. The findings fall into two broad categories: (1) functional-area specific, applying exclusively to arming, manning, sustaining, moving, fixing, force protection, and selected other areas; and (2) those with broader application. Under the latter, the limited availability of many CSS assets will encourage their central management. Commanders will have to consider weighting front-line assets with low-density assets or keeping them centralized for dispatch as needed. CSS resources will require the same command, control, and communications assets as do other units. Additionally, CSS drivers and others throughout the area of operations are a potentially vital and underused source of intelligence. A bibliography of 12 books, 34 articles, 44 reports, 19 interviews, and 42 briefings and e-mails is included. (7 figures).

This research was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the relationship between deception and the urban environment, first to explore the power of deception when employed against U.S. forces in urban operations, and second to evaluate the potential value of deception when used by U.S. forces in urban operations.

Intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB), the Army's traditional methodology for finding and analyzing relevant information for its operations, is not effective for tackling the operational and intelligence challenges of urban operations. The authors suggest new ways to categorize the complex terrain, infrastructure, and populations of urban environments and incorporate this information into Army planning and decisionmaking processes.