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ABSTRACT
Assistance of local-national partners is necessary to the USA in order to protect its national security interests throughout the world. These partners, typically individuals who support USA diplomats, service members, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in non-combatant roles, form USA soft networks. Due to the nature of their work, many of these individuals associated with the policy and actions of the USA become vulnerable to violent threats from adversaries. In fact, adversaries have grasped that attacking USA soft networks is a logical approach for enemies fighting from positions of weakness. As a result, examination of other domains may yield best practices that build resiliency in USA soft networks, thereby cementing national security interests. Further, agency theory illuminates critical principles in the relationships between local-national partners and field practitioners, and informs policy development efforts as a result.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Packer, “Betrayed,” 31.
2. Warren and Miska, “Soft Networks,” 3.
3. Russell, “Innovation in War,” 601-3.
4. Miska, presentation to the Pacific Council on International Policy, 2 February 2017.
5. Under section 1059 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006, Public Law 109-163, up to 50 Iraqi and Afghan translators working for the U.S. military have been eligible for special immigrant visas (SIVs) each fiscal year (FY). Public Law 110-36, which President Bush signed into law on 15 June 2007, amended section 1059 by expanding the total number of beneficiaries to 500 a year for FY 2007 and FY 2008 only. In FY 2009, the number of visas available for this category reverted to 50 annually. However, on 30 September 2014, the Iraqi SIV program ended, leaving thousands without an option for relocation to the USA.
6. Hsu and Wright, “Crocker Blasts Refugee Process.”
7. Agency theory dictates ‘an agency relationship has arisen between two (or more) parties when one, designated as the agent, acts for, on behalf of, or as representative for the other, designated the principal, in a particular domain of decision problems.’ For more see Ross, “The Economic Theory of Agency.”
8. Ibid, 134.
9. Kilcullen, The Accidental Guerrilla, 124.
10. Ibid, 126.
11. FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5 Counterinsurgency, Headquarters USA Army.
12. Russell, “Innovation in War,” 601.
13. Kilcullen, The Accidental Guerrilla, 135.
14. The List Project Policy Proposal, May 2010.
15. Conversation with Steve Miska, Baghdad, Iraq, October, 2007. Identity of individual protected.
16. Bruno, “Iraqi and Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Programs,”4.
17. Ibid, 4.
18. Ibid, 4.
19. Ibid, 5.
20. La Corte, “Our Immigration System Is Killing Our Allies.”
21. During the latter half of 2007, Task Force Justice would process up to three dozen SIV participants, six of whom would enter the U.S. military as 09L interpreters. The Underground Railroad continued from Baghdad to Amman to the U.S. until the U.S. Baghdad Embassy finally allowed interviews at their location in the Green Zone in late 2007.
22. See note 20 above.
23. Public Law 113–66, “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014.”
24. Rigby, University Honors Junior/Senior Projects.
25. Bruno, 12-13.
26. Ibid, 12.
27. International Refugee Assistance Project, Fifteen Years On, 10.
28. Sanghiva, “Abandoned in Baghdad.”
29. Ibid.
30. Huetteman, “‘They Will Kill Us.”
31. Ibid.
32. Amadeo, “U.S. Federal Budget Breakdown.”
33. Miller, “Chart: Iraqi Translators, a Casualty List.”
34. See note 20 above.
35. Department of State, Joint Department of State/Department of Homeland Security Report, 1-6.
36. No One Left Behind Annual Report, No One Left Behind, 3.
37. Email correspondence with Steve Miska, 10 April 2011. Identity of individual and NGO protected by nondisclosure agreement.
38. Interview with Steve Miska, 3 February 2011. Identity of individual and NGO protected by nondisclosure agreement.
39. See note 37 above.
40. See note 38 above.
41. Ibid.
42. The Massachusetts cases found that ‘87% of witnesses stated that they knew the perpetrator,’ and that ‘approximately half (50%) of all critical witnesses had a past conviction, 40% had an open case, and 19% of critical witnesses were on probation at the time the petition was filed.’ Deval L. Patrick, ‘An Overview of Cases in Fiscal Year 2007,’ The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Witness Protection Program, (October 2007), 14.
43. U.S. Marshals Service, “Witness Security Program brief.”
44. Ibid.
45. USA Marshals Service, Witness Security Division Fact Sheet.
46. Department of Justice, New Hampshire, Address Confidentiality Program brief.
47. See note 8 above.
48. Ibid.
49. Eisenhardt, “Agency Theory: An Assessment and Review,” 61.
50. Ibid, 58.
51. Fyfe, and McKay, “Witness Intimidation, Forced Migration and Resettlement,” 77-90.
52. Ibid, 35-36.
53. Ferris, “The Looming Crisis.”
54. See The International Rescue Committee, ”Iraqi Refugees in the United States.”; Semple, ”Iraqi Immigrants Face Lonely Struggle in U.S.” and author firsthand experience with Iraqi immigrant families in the U.S.