The hyper-prolific Spencer Ackerman was kind enough to respond to my critique of his call for applying counterinsurgency techniques to domestic policing. (Note to Spencer: This is what you call a relaxed posting schedule?)
In short, Ackerman's arguing that smart counterinsurgency and community policing can be informed by the same ethic: Getting to the root cause of why a population, actively or passively, supports the bad guys. "The principle at stake — give the people enough security and services and they’ll have a better reason to cooperate with you against the undesirable element — is the same in both cases."
I respectfully disagree: I still think the practice of domestic counterinsurgency (versus intervening in someone else's counterinsurgency) can have a corrosive effect on civil liberties in the long run, but there's still plenty of room for debate about this. Go read the whole thing, and chime in in the comments section.
