At a recent meeting of the congressionally-mandated Syria Study Group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the participants outlined Washington's agenda for Syria, particularly a forward-looking examination of the diplomatic and military components of America's long-standing efforts in Syria.  The discussion entitled "Syria in the Gray Zone" focused on what is termed "gray zone competition" in Syria, a concept that we will look at in this posting.

Let's start by taking a quick look at CSIS.  Here, in their own words, is what we need to know about CSIS to put their influence over Washington into perspective: