Phillip Meilinger

Phillip S. Meilinger is an retired colonel of the US Air Force as well as a historian and analyst. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Panel of the Royal Air Force Centre for Air Power Studies. He has advocated the combined use of bombing operations, proxy armies and propaganda to dominate target countries whilst avoiding public opposition at home. In an article written in 2007, Meilinger wrote:

[W]hat we may be seeing is a new paradigm of war emerging that sees Air and Space Power + SOF [special operations forces] + Indigenous Ground Troops + CIA + Information Ops as the most effective form of warfare. Indeed the present difficulties in Iraq actually make it seem more likely that this paradigm will become popular in the future. Certainly such a paradigm will not work in all situations, but because of its amazing success, it should be considered as a first option in future crises.