Operation Blue Bat, 1958: Framing Activities in Crisis Response - American Intervention in Lebanon by President Eisenhower, Forcible Entry and P

In 1958, the U.S. military forecasted decisive battles in Europe against a near peer competitor as the most likely instance of future conflict. To fit this vision, U.S. forces fielded advanced weapons, created new organizational structures, and adjusted forward basing locations. Instead of conducting large scale combat, however, President Eisenhower ordered the U.S. military to conduct forcible entry and partnered stability operations in Lebanon to quell political chaos. Known as Operation Blue Bat, the American intervention in Lebanon in 1958 represents an example of military leaders needing to rapidly discern U.S. policy, frame the operational environment, and adjust the operational approach to nest military objectives with political aims at an acceptable level of risk. As the United States enters another era of great power competition, military planners must be cognizant that emergent crises without distinguishable national policy will continue to occur. Operation Blue Bat elucidates the operational challenges of military options to address those events.This compilation also includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.At 0400, the Marines of the Battalion Landing Team (BLT) were afloat 120 nautical miles off the coast when they were abruptly awoken by the ships' Main Circuit loudspeakers, which ordered the crisis action teams to assemble. Almost simultaneously across ships of the transport squadron, key planners worked their way through the maze of passageways to planning spaces while subordinate leaders mustered their men, assigned tasks, and reviewed the morning's timeline. The assigned tasks and timelines were second nature by that point. The BLT had been afloat for months and recently its otherwise routine deployment was extended because of percolating regional instability. While the Marines distributed ammunition from the landing force operational reserve material, cleaned weapons, and loaded equipment aboard transports and tracked vehicles, leaders received an update brief on events unfolding near their destination. The tense political situation ashore finally reached the boiling point. The National Command Authority (NCA) issued the execute order. This was to be no drill, this time it was for real. After months of threats to its sovereignty, a beleaguered partner nation requested U.S. military assistance to prevent a violent overthrow of its government. These threats to its sovereignty originated with separatist groups internal to the country, but there was credible evidence that a regional hegemon provided external support in the form of fighters, funding, and weapons. This adversary's subversive actions short of war did not end with just material support to opposition groups. For months, it waged a seditious information campaign aimed at members of the partner nation's military to dissuade them from defending the government. Because of these information operations, host nation security forces' loyalty was questionable at best. As the BLT commander and his staff developed the scheme of maneuver and fire support plans for the landing, the Marines were uncertain whether they would be greeted on the beach by partners or projectiles.