Creating Shortages of Supplies

Abstract

The simplest strategy in “supply manipulation” is to cut off supplies to a geographic location. This is a very broad strategy that will allow a force to manage which supplies, if any, will go into or out of a cordoned area and is typically done through the use of military blockades along roads, trade routes, ports, channels, and air fields. By stopping the source of supplies to a region, one is effectively stopping the ability of people within the region to continue performing routine operations. For a combative force, this means diminishing or even completely eliminating the ability of enemy militants and those associated with them to perform combat-related missions.