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Collection and Monitoring via Planning for Active Situational Scenarios (COMPASS) (Strategic Multi-Layer Assessment Report)

Barlos, Fotis; Skinner, Anna; Peeke, Richard; Mohan, Robert; Kelic, Andjelka; Beyeler, Walter; Homan, Rossitza; Starz, James; Hoffman, Mark; Hofmann, Martin O.; Guo, Katherine; Van Brackle, David; Pioch, Nicholas; Alonso, Rafael; Brown, Kerry; Miller, Scott; Diehl, Michael; Ma, Laura P.; Basu, Prithwish; Wright, William; Shellman, Stephen M.; Hazard, Chris; Brown, Matthew; Fang, Fei; Shen, Weiran; Geib, Christopher

An emergent type of geopolitical warfare in recent years has been coined "Gray Zone competition," "competition short of armed conflict", or simply "competition," because it sits in a nebulous area between peace and conventional conflict. As such, the Gray Zone (GZ) "is a conceptual space between peace and war, occurring when actors use instruments of power to achieve political-security objectives ... [that] ... fall below the level of large-scale direct military conflict". It's not openly declared or defined; it's slower and is prosecuted more subtly using social, psychological, religious, information, cyber and other means to achieve physical or cognitive objectives, with or without violence. The lack of clarity of intent in competition activity makes it challenging to detect, characterize, and counter an enemy fighting this way.