Expeditionary energy economics

The term was first introduced in 2018 in an article by U.S. Army Major Alexander Thymmons, a research fellow within the Strategic Analysis Department of the NATO Energy Security Center of excellence in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Major Thymmons proposed that the successful megacity counterinsurgency (COIN) campaigns of the twenty-first century will depend on fast solutions to critical energy infrastructure (CEI) vulnerabilities within individual communities.

[4] A COIN campaign is then "the set of political, economic, social, military, law enforcement, civil and psychological activities with the aim to defeat insurgency and address any core grievances".

[6] This is in line with NATO's preferred COIN operational approach—Clear, Hold, and Build (CHB)—which “encompasses offensive, defensive, stability and enabling activities”.

[7] For this reason, CHB is the joint civil-military action—taken by NATO, Host Nation, and civil actors—which places the restoration of basic services and infrastructure before the neutralization of hostile groups.