The Fate of the Civilian Surge in a Changing Environment | Page 32

balancing civilian and military capabilities to
address peace and security challenges more effectively across multiple lines of effort.
5. Convene a conference of R&S knowledge centers to take stock of current capabilities and develop strategies for reinvigorating relationships
with policy makers, with the goal of ensuring
that these earlier investments in knowledge
management can help inform a new administration facing a new generation of complex
international challenges. Examine how these
institutions – such as CSO, PKSOI, CCO, USIP,
and the J7 staff – can draw from their past work
to contribute more strategically and robustly to
current discussions around CVE, defense institution building, atrocities prevention, transnational organized crime, and emerging issues
that parallel (or re-brand) an earlier generation
of R&S concerns. Representatives from these
government-sponsored centers should be prepared to re-introduce themselves to current
and future foreign policy makers and outline
their capabilities. Doing so would serve to refresh their mandate and ensure that their work
remains relevant to an insular, evolving, and
easily distracted foreign policy community in
Washington.
Concluding Thoughts
Planning ahead for future R&S efforts is essential for the United States, given the number of fragile
states in the world and the nature of contemporary
security threats to our nation and its allies. As Ameri-

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