NSDD 277 National Policy and Strategy for Low Intensity Conflict

<SERET 2 each other. Such conflicts can lead to loss of access to strategic minerals and energy sources; loss of military basing, transit, and access rights; expanded threats to sea lines of communication; gradual shifting of friends and allies into positions of accommodation with interests hostile to the U.S. i assaults on democratic principles; and advantages for the Soviet Union in a world increasingly hostile to U.S. interests. (U) Threats to supported governments include overt and covert low intensity aggression, which may be instigated by indigenous or externally sponsored groups. Weapons employed by the antagonists include information, subversion, restriction of resources, terrorism, guerrilla warfare, and invasion. The upper boundary of Low Intensity Conflict is crossed when opposing conventional forces employ standard doctrines of offense and defense. (U) U.S. involvement in Low Intensity Conflict also includes supporting selected resistance groups. Further, illegal drug trafficking, the substantial revenues produced, and the concomitant exploitation of international financial networks are peripheral to but facilitate instability and must be dealt with as integral elements of Low Intensity Conflict strategy. (U) POLICY: U.S. responses to Low Intensity Conflict situations must be based on established criteria: strategic interests, freedom and democratic values, opposition to Soviet expansionism/ adventurism, and the supported group's or government's depth of commitment to the struggle. The U.S. must also recognize the long-term nature of Low Intensity Conflict and that Congressional participation and a national and international climate of support are often the ultimate determinants of success. Finally, our policy with regard to Low Intensity Conflict must be implemented in accordance with United States law, and also framed and defined by accepted principles of international law. These principles affirm the inherent right of states to use force in individual or collective self-defense against armed attack, and also to assist one another to help maintain internal order against insurgency, revolution, guerilla activity, terrorism, and the like, which are characteristic of Low Intensity Conflict. When in the national interest, the U.S. shall: (U) -- Take measures to strengthen selected nations facing threats to their independence and stability by applying, in coordination with friends and allies, the full range of political, economic, informational, and military instruments of power. Action should be taken before instability leads to violence. (U) SBCRET SECRELD