This article addresses the challenges of policing on UN and coalition stability operations and assesses efforts to achieve host nation police primacy, defined as a situation where indigenous police have the main responsibility for internal security and maintaining the rule of law. The article offers a broad perspective, identifying and discussing common, re-occurring problems that have beset policing operations and assessing national and international efforts to make better use of foreign and host nation police assets. Although national and international staffs have worked hard to improve policing capabilities over the last 20 years, the provision of effective policing for stability operations will continue to challenge the international community, not least because different perceptions of national interests, domestic political constraints, and bureaucratic inertia continue to impact police capabilities negatively

This article investigates the future of conflict in urban terrain, considering both trends in the operating environment and likely advancements in enemy capability as contributing to irregular threats. These trends are identified in theoretical terms and then examined in a hypothetical operation with explication of associated implications. Many contingencies must be considered in future analysis and capability development to create a balanced force. However, it is imperative that national security professionals consider the likelihood, and implications, of having to undertake future operations in littoral urban centers against evolved irregular threats.

The Intelligence Community has the opportunity to meet growing demands for socio-cultural analysis (SCA), but requires a paradigm describing how to resource this capability and explaining its value to foreign and military policy. This article asserts that today’s threat environment, in which subnational actors and complex social trends persistently undermine the state system, requires addressing budding conflicts before they turn violent. Doing so will allow the U.S. to better respond with a wider range of policy options at lower cost. The Conflict Continuum is offered to conceptualize the value of conducting SCA before crises are manifest. Additionally, the Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Intelligence framework is suggested to integrate whole-of-nation resources for understanding threats to populations, their states, and national interests. "RSI is a concept or paradigm co-developed by USSOCOM’s Matthew Puls and US Army TRADOC G2’s Dr. Kira Hutchinson for incorporating existing socio-cultural analysis resources into the intelligence process."