Human Terrain System
US Army support program / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Human Terrain System (HTS) was a United States Army, Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) support program employing personnel from the social science disciplines – such as archaeology, anthropology, sociology, political science, historians, regional studies, and linguistics – to provide military commanders and staff with an understanding of the local population (i.e. the "human terrain") in the regions in which they are deployed.[1][2][3][4][5]
Human Terrain System | |
---|---|
Active | February 2007 – September 2014 |
Country | United States |
Part of | TRADOC |
HQ/Project Office | Newport News, Virginia |
Equipment | Mapping the Human Terrain Toolkit (MAP-HT) |
Website | HTS official website |
The concept of HTS was first developed in a paper by Montgomery McFate and Andrea Jackson in 2005,[6] which proposed a pilot version of the project as a response to "identified gaps in [US military] commanders' and staffs' understanding of the local population and culture", such as became particularly visible during the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.[1][3][4] HTS was subsequently launched as a proof-of-concept program, run by the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), in February 2007, with five HTS teams deployed between Iraq and Afghanistan.[3][4] Since 2007, HTS has grown from a program with five deployed teams and a $20 million two-year budget to one with 31 deployed teams and a $150 million annual budget.[3] HTS became a permanent US Army program in 2010.[3]
Ever since its launch, HTS has been surrounded by controversy.[4][7][8] While the program initially received positive coverage in the US media, it quickly became the subject of heavy criticism – particularly from anthropologists, but also from journalists, military officials and HTS personnel and former personnel.[9] Most notably, on 31 October 2007, the executive board of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) published a statement opposing HTS as an "unacceptable application of anthropological expertise" that conflicted with the AAA's Code of Ethics.[10][11][12] Following the publication of a report on HTS by the Commission on Engagement of Anthropology with the US Security and Intelligence Services (CEAUSSIC) in 2009,[13][14] the AAA released a further statement of disapproval, which they re-iterated in 2012 after rumours that the controversy had died down.[15][16]
The program evolved into a mechanism for supporting security force assistance. The program ended operations on 30 September 2014.