Including a Critical Path Method of Project Management to Assist the Planning and Tracking of Stability Operations

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In order to facilitate U. S. national security strategy, the U. S. Military has a renewed focus on conducting Stability Operations. These complex operations often take place over long periods and involve various different, but interrelated tasks. Current methods of planning require subjective analysis and previous experiences to determine prioritization when allocating limited resources. Successfully used in civilian industry as a way to plan and execute complex projects, the critical path method might apply to stability operations. The research attempted to determine if applying the critical path method would assist in developing and conducting stability operations. The research includes a review of literature outlining current national strategic requirements for conducting stability operations, followed by a description of current planning methods and a systematic method to apply critical path method to stability operations. After conducting an analytical wargame on three conditions of a case study using the War in Iraq, the conclusion was that combining doctrinal, traditional lines of effort with the application of the critical path method can assist future stability operations.