This monograph examines the validity of the comparison between the U. S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict and the ongoing war on drugs. With the implosion of Soviet-styled communism, many American have come to view illicit drug use and the violence it fosters as the greatest threat to the U.S. Since the mid-80's, the U.S. Government has enacted legislation and adopted a strategy to include military support in this war effort. Some polemicists and political scientists have been critical of the militarization of U.S. programs, and compared them to the U.S. experience in Vietnam. The monograph first establishes the linkage between the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war. In doing so, the monograph relies on the classical theorist, Carl von Clausewitz, whose trinitarian model and center of gravity concept are essential to this preparation. For doctrinal consonance with Clausewitz' model, the monograph uses the Weinberger Doctrine on 'The Uses of Military Power,' as well as TRADOC PAM 11-9 and FM 100-5.
