COIN...Yes!

U.S. Government counterinsurgency guide  •  JANUARY 2009 17 CHAPTER TWO: COMPONENTS OF COIN STRATEGY CONTROL ECONOMIC SECURITY IN FO RMATIO N POLITICAL STRATEGY Control. The Information, Security and Development components combine within the political strategy to enable the affected government to control its environment, such that the population will, in the long run, support it rather than the insurgents. The Information Component. Information (acquiring knowledge and exerting influence) is the base component for all other activities, providing the linkages that allow discrete functional elements to cooperate as an integrated whole. The Security Component. Providing physical security against insurgent violence, though often imperative, is only one step in progressing towards ‘Human Security’ which also encompasses the maintenance of laws, human rights, freedom to conduct economic activity, public safety and health. The Economic and Development Component. This includes immediate humanitarian relief and the provision of essential services, as well as longer-term programs to develop the infrastructure and capacity for legitimate agricultural, industrial, educational, medical, commercial and governmental activities. Political strategy. This is the key function in a COIN effort, providing a framework of political reconciliation, genuine reform, popular mobilization and governmental capacity-building around which all other programs and activities are organized. COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO COUNTERINSURGENCY Comprehensive Approach to Counterinsurgency