The authors wish to thank, first of all, our colleagues in the RAND
Project AIR FORCE project “New Challenges for the U.S. Air Force,” especially David Shlapak, David Thaler, and Dan Fox. Their contribution to the development of this study, particularly in crisis gaming and analysis of operational issues, was invaluable. We also wish to thank Zalmay Khalilzad, the former director of the Strategy and
Doctrine Program, under whose auspices this study was initiated, his successor, Ted Harshberger, and the reviewers of this manuscript,
Greg Treverton of RAND and David Spencer of the Center for Naval
Analyses. Dr. Treverton’s comments helped to sharpen the focus of the analysis and add depth to the study, and Mr. Spencer contributed invaluable insights into the strategy and tactics of the parties in the
Colombian conflict.
Our most important sources for the study were Colombian military authorities and defense academics, who provided critical data and insights. We thank in particular the embassy and office of the defense attaché of Colombia in Washington; the Comandancia General
(General Staff) of the Colombian armed forces; Dr. Francisco Leal
Buitrago, dean of the faculty of Political Sciences at the Universidad de los Andes; Dr. Alfredo Rangel, Colombia’s leading politicomilitary analyst; Dr. Camilo Echandía, the author of the most complete statistical survey of the violence in Colombia; and
Panamian defense expert Dr. Jorge Aparicio. We also thank the ambassadors of Venezuela and Panama to the United States, the
Venezuelan Armed Force and the Institute of Higher National
Defense Studies of Venequela, and the National Police, Air Service, and Naval Service of Panama for their cooperation with the research xxi

xxii Colombian Labyrinth for this study. We are grateful to Dr. Fernando Carrillo of the Inter-
American Development Bank; Professor Malcolm Deas of St.
Antony’s College, Oxford University; and Dr. Bruce M. Bagley of the
University of Miami for sharing their views on Colombia and the region.
Finally, our assistant, Joanna Alberdeston, and our editors, Jeanne
Heller and Christopher Kelly, deserve credit for their help in the preparation of the manuscript for publication.