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- An Afghan interpreter, right, on patrol with 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment of the 5th Stryker Brigade, calls over some local teenagers who were seen moving suspiciously in a tree line on May 8, 2010, in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province. (JULIE JACOBSON/ AP file) From Luce’s NBC News article, see link below.
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- Soft Networks: Protecting an Achilles Heel of American Influence.
Dear Soft Network Advocates,
2019 has been an exciting year for SPSN. A generous grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation, in 2018, and the continued support from the Pacific Council, No One Left Behind, and many other valuable partners provided SPSN with the opportunity to delve deeper into the strategic challenges and solutions to protect soft networks. SPSN researchers Steve Miska, Rebecca Ash, and Sam Romano pursued a nearly year-long study that culminated in the creation of Soft Networks: Protecting an Achilles Heel of American Influence.
Building on previous suggestions and research they examined best practices used by non-military actors and local national partners, cybersecurity threats to soft networks, and the gaps in government contracting policy that jeopardize local partner security. Read the Executive Summary here.
This month also saw us welcome a new researcher to our team for this summer. Jure Erlic is a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon’s Institute for Politics and Strategy and will be housed in the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles. Please join me in giving Jure a warm welcome.
Thank you for your continued support of our work in strategically protecting soft networks. We look forward to providing further updates on research and policy development efforts processes to protect our closest partners in conflict zones.
The SPSN team
Suggested Readings:
- ‘Stivers bill would extend measure allowing interpreters for US to come to America’, The Columbus Dispatch, Jessica Wehrman, 06/18/19
- ‘At this L.A. supper club, refugees share food and memories of the lives they left behind’, Los Angeles Times, Sarah Parvini, 05/31/19
- ‘Lawmakers ask Trump admin why Afghan interpreter facing Taliban threats has no U.S. visa’, NBC News, Dan De Luce, 05/30/19
- ‘Trump Administration Has Drastically Dropped Visas For Afghan And Iraqi Interpreters’, NPR, Quil Lawrence, 05/01/19
- ‘Afghan interpreters are terrified about a possible U.S. deal with the Taliban’, Vice News, Ben Anderson, 04/25/19
Project to Strategically Protect Soft Networks 