The gray zone is an operating environment in which aggressors use ambiguity and leverage non-attribution to achieve strategic objectives while limiting counter-actions by other nation states. Inside the gray zone, aggressors use hybrid tactics to achieve their strategic objectives. While hybrid threats have historically been associated with irregular and conventional warfare, their use in the gray zone leads to a dichotomy between two types of hybrid threats that can mainly be attributed to the need for ambiguity and non-attribution in the gray zone. The two types of hybrid threats are "open-warfare hybrid threats" and "gray-zone hybrid threats." A case in point is Russia's military actions in eastern Ukraine, part of what the Kremlin calls its "New Generation Warfare." In this MWI report, Captain John Chambers draws on this case study to recommend ways the US Army can improve its capacity to counter ongoing as well as future gray-zone hybrid threats.

"October 18, 2016"--Cover. Includes maps of: Ukraine Crisis Maps; Ethnic Russian Populations in Eastern Europe.

Abstract. -- I. Executive summary. -- II. Describing hybrid threats and the gray zone. -- Contemporary view of hybrid threats. -- The spectrum of conflict: hybrid threats vs. the gray zone. -- Characteristics of contemporary hybrid threats. -- Gray-zone hybrid threats. -- Open-warfare hybrid threats. -- Findings and recommendations. -- III. Identifying and adapting to challenges posed by gray-zone hybrid threats due to laws, norms, and processes. -- Challenges posed by gray-zone hybrid threats. -- Russia's "new generation warfare" vs. US doctrine. -- Findings and recommendations. -- IV. Improving US army capacity to counter gray-zone hybrid threats. -- Identifying and understanding the threat. -- Reducing risk. -- V. Summary: the future of hybrid threats. -- Appendices. -- Bibliography.