text: Direct Methods for Countering Insurgencies
  needs to be interdicted by checkpoints or destroyed. This may inconvenience the local population, but if
  consistent with the principle of proportionality this can be a valid course of action. Power systems and
  water systems deep in insurgent controlled areas are prime targets for targeted threat infrastructure, but
  targeting them requires careful proportionality analysis. As critical components of a society, power and
  water are staples that the insurgents need to survive in their own region. By impairing these resources,
  counterinsurgents may undermine the insurgency’s resources and its ability to continue the insurgency.
  However, any effort to attack these resources must be balanced with the host nation’s legitimacy among the
  local population that is affected. Aggressive strikes and raids are central to the targeted threat infrastructure
  method to destroy the physical infrastructure that supports an insurgency. This tactic is not a slash-and-burn
  technique, but consists of well-planned, pinpointed attacks on those critical enablers that the insurgency
  needs to operate.
  9-49. Another key target is the illicit funds used to fuel an insurgency. By establishing counter threat
  finance fusion centers, commanders and staffs can work with the power of interagency law enforcement
  and international legal partners to find, interdict, and seize huge sums of money that the illicit regime must
  launder before it can be used again for legal currency. By using unit counter threat finance specialists in
  targeted threat infrastructure operations, funds determined to have been gained through illicit means can be
  targeted for seizure at the local level. For example, if a man is a small farm owner and lives in a palatial
  home with three cars, he should be investigated, and his funds can be targeted if it is determined that his
  wealth is from illicit means and those means are being used to fuel an insurgency.
  STRIKE
  9-50. A strike is an attack to damage or destroy an objective or a capability (JP 3-0). A strike may be
  useful in disrupting an insurgency, especially in insurgent controlled areas. Strikes can be made on guerrilla
  bases, large, enclosed or isolated compounds, and training camps. Normally these operations are meant to
  disrupt an insurgency and allow for the success of other operations. Strike operations can be integrated into
  a host nation’s operations to secure a population. The U.S. may contribute a force to perform strikes.
  9-51. The purpose of a strike is to destroy insurgent forces and base areas, isolate insurgent forces from
  their support, and interdict insurgent infiltration routes and lines of communications. Strikes are primarily
  offensive operations. They are characterized by reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, and careful
  planning, followed by vigorously executed, coordinated attacks or raids by small, highly mobile combat
  forces operating in dispersed formations to locate and fix an insurgent force. Upon locating an insurgent
  force, strike force commanders attack, pursue, and destroy that insurgent force. If contact is lost, the strike
  forces resume aggressive patrolling to reestablish contact and destroy the insurgent force before it can rest,
  reorganize, and resume combat operations.
  9-52. Strikes can be conducted in support of shape-clear-hold-build-transition framework operations after
  guerrilla forces are initially driven out of an area during the clear phase. Strikes are often employed to
  assault objectives outside cleared areas to fix and destroy guerilla forces and prevent counterattacks against
  government and reconstruction personnel. Counterinsurgents conduct assaults in areas where guerrillas
  attempt to consolidate during the hold and build phases. Precision airpower weapons can be used to support
  other units conducting strike operations or to conduct strike operations on their own.
  9-53. Reconnaissance to locate and test insurgent dispositions and strengths or to develop additional
  intelligence can be followed immediately by a hasty attack or raid. Reconnaissance should emphasize
  thorough coverage of an area, and it is characterized by continuous, decentralized, small-unit operations.
  Since strike campaigns are conducted in insecure areas, plans must provide for force withdrawal after
  mission accomplishment.
  9-54. Strike forces are generally task forces composed of military units and may contain intelligence,
  police, and paramilitary elements. Civilian elements may be represented. Forces designated to conduct
  strikes should be relieved of routine area defense responsibilities well in advance of an operation. Strike
  forces can be controlled at the national, regional, or local levels. Strike forces are organized as
  self-sufficient task forces capable of operating for extended periods in areas remote from home bases.
  9-55. Once insurgent bases have been located, strike forces maneuver to destroy them. An insurgency’s
  ability to hide weapons and to assume noncombatant guises in attempting to avoid capture may require a