Publication

This study argues that interagency teams were a major catalyst in turning around the Iraq War, and that they will disappear from America’s arsenal unless the knowledge base supporting the innovation can be secured. Most explanations credit the dramatic reduction in violence in Iraq between 2007 and 2008 to new US leadership, the surge in US forces, and/or US financial support to Sunni tribal leaders. In contrast, the authors argue that the United States employed an underappreciated organizational innovation interagency teams—to put insurgent clandestine organizations on the defensive and give population security measures a chance to take effect.