Unconventional Warfare Pocket Guide/Components of a Resistance

by the United States Army Special Operations Command

Components of a Resistance

Indigenous populations engaged in resistance are composed of the following primary components: the underground, auxiliary, guerrilla forces, public components, shadow government, and a government-in-exile. The goals, objectives, and success of the resistance will determine the level of development and relationships among the components.

• The underground and guerrillas are politico-military entities that may conduct both political and military acts, and which represent the ends of a spectrum between clandestine and overt resistance.

• The auxiliary represents a clandestine support structure for both the underground and guerrillas.

• The public component functions as an overt, political, and/or material support entity. The public components may negotiate with the nation-state government or occupying power on behalf of resistance movement objectives, and will typically make overt appeals for domestic and international support. Public components may represent resistance strategic leadership or merely an interest section.

The underground is a cellular organization within the resistance that has the ability to conduct operations in areas that are inaccessible to guerrillas, such as urban areas under the control of the local security forces. Examples of underground functions include: intelligence, counterintelligence (CI) networks, special material fabrication (example: false identification), munitions, subversive radio, media networks (newspaper or leaflet print shops), social media, webpages, logistic networks, sabotage, clandestine medical facilities, and generation of funding.

The auxiliary refers to that portion of the population that provides active clandestine support to the guerrilla force or the underground. Members of the auxiliary are part-time volunteers who have value because of their normal position in the community. Some functions include: logistics procurement and distribution, labor for special materials, early warning for underground facilities and guerrilla bases, intelligence collection recruitment, communications couriers or messengers, distribution media and safe house management.

A guerrilla is an irregular, predominantly indigenous member of a guerrilla force, organized similarly to military concepts and structure to conduct military and paramilitary operations in enemy held, hostile, or denied territory. Guerrillas are neither militias nor mercenary soldiers whose allegiance is secured solely by payment, nor are they criminal gangs conducting illegal activities for profit.

The public component refers to an overt political manifestation of a resistance. Public components are primarily responsible for negotiations with the nation-state government or occupying power representatives on behalf of resistance movement objectives. Every case of resistance is unique, and the degree to which public representatives exist will vary. If the nation-state decides to suppress these public components completely, the public components may have to dissolve and go underground. The public component is not synonymous with shadow government or government-in-exile.

A shadow government consists of governmental elements and activities performed by an irregular organization that replaces the governance functions of the existing regime (examples include security, health services, and taxation). Members of the shadow government can originate from any element of the irregular organization (e.g., underground, auxiliary, or guerrilla force). The shadow government operates in the denied area of an occupied territory.

A government-in-exile is a government displaced from its country of origin, yet remains recognized as a legitimate sovereign authority of a nation. A government-in-exile will normally take up sanctuary in a nearby allied or friendly nation-state.

Figure 2 below depicts the typical activities conducted by an insurgency or resistance movement. Most or all of the represented activities will be conducted by a successful resistance or insurgency regardless of whether the USG makes the policy decision to support it. USG support to resistance – UW – is initiated by either a presidential finding or an EXORD. UW then proceeds generally following a 7-phase conceptual model called the Seven Phases of Unconventional Warfare.

Figure 2. Activities of an Insurgency or Resistance Movement

Figure 2. Activities of an Insurgency or Resistance Movement