Recent Articles

After Iraq: The Search for a Sustainable National Security Strategy Dr Colin S Gray Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "What should be the U.S. national security strategy after Iraq? An answer cannot be given unless a logically and politically prior question is posed: “What should be the purpose and character of a sustainable U.S. national security policy after Iraq?” Thus to answer the first question, one has to identify both the policy that strategy must serve as well as the components of that strategy."

Russia Challenges the Obama Administration Dr Stephen J Blank Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Moscow threw down the gauntlet to Barack Obama the day after he became president-elect. Russia threatens that unless the United States withdraws its 10 missile defense networks from Poland and the Czech Republic, it will install Iskander cruise missiles (which can be conventional or nuclear) in Kaliningrad on Poland’s borders and jam the radars in the Czech Republic. Moscow makes several assertions to justify its threat..."

War without Borders: The Colombia-Ecuador Crisis of 2008 Dr Gabriel Marcella Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Unprotected borders are a serious threat to the security of a number of states around the globe. Indeed, the combination of weak states, ungoverned space, terrorism, and international criminal networks make a mockery of the Westphalian system of international order. Latin American countries are experiencing all of these maladies in varying degrees. The Andean region is under assault by a different kind of war that defies borders. In this context, Dr. Gabriel Marcella analyzes the lessons to be learned from the Colombian attack against the clandestine camp of the the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which was located at an isolated area within Ecuador on March 1, 2008. This single incident and its aftermath had profound reverberations throughout the Hemisphere. "

HAMAS and Israel: Conflicting Strategies of Group-Based Politics Dr Sherifa D Zuhur Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph considers the changing fortunes of the Palestinian movement, HAMAS, and the recent outcomes of Israeli strategies aimed against this group and Palestinian nationalism external to the Fatah faction of the Palestinian Authority. The example of HAMAS challenges much of the current wisdom on “insurgencies” and their containment. As the author, Dr. Sherifa Zuhur, demonstrates, efforts have been made to separate HAMAS from its popular support and network of social and charitable organizations. These have not been effective in destroying the organization, nor in eradicating the will to resist among a fairly large segment of the Palestinian population."

Affairs of State: The Interagency and National Security Dr Gabriel Marcella Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "No power in history has matched the global reach and influence of the United States. Yet coordinating and integrating the various elements of national power through the interagency process remains the essential challenge of American statesmen. The challenge will be even greater in the 21st century as strategists, civilian and military alike, grapple with a geopolitical context that will require fluency in meshing all the levers and instruments of power. The authors of this compendium join in a common effort to shed light on how the interagency works with respect to national security. "

Regional Spillover Effects of the Iraq War Dr W Andrew Terrill Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The Iraq war has been one of the dominant factors influencing U.S. strategic thinking in the Middle East and globally since 2003. Yet the problems of this highly dynamic and fluid war have sometimes forced U.S. policymakers to address near-term issues that cannot be safely postponed at the expense of long-term strategic thought. Such a technique, while understandable, cannot continue indefinitely as an approach to policy. Long-term planning remains vital for advancing regionwide U.S. and Iraqi interests following a U.S. drawdown from Iraq. Such planning must include dealing with current and potential “spillover” from the Iraq war. In this monograph, Dr. W. Andrew Terrill presents ideas, concerns, and strategies that can help to fill this gap in the literature and enrich the debate on the actual and potential spillover effects of the Iraq war that will face U.S. policymakers, possibly for decades. "

Caribbean Engineer and Environmental Conference Arthur L Bradshaw, Dr Kent H Butts, Ms Marcela Ramirez Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "The Command Engineer Office, United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), with collaboration from the United States Army War College’s Center for Strategic Leadership, conducted a successful four day Engineer and Environment Conference between 2 and 5 September 2008 in San Jose, Puerto Rico. The purpose of the conference was to foster cooperation between United States Government (USG) agencies, the civilian and military leadership of Caribbean states, and the academic community on environmental engineering issues and disaster response activities."

Fighting Back: New Media and Military Operations Dennis M Murphy Study by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006 provides recent, glaring evidence of how the current information environment has impacted the way warfare is conducted today. Hezbollah masterfully manipulated and controlled that environment to its advantage, using (at times staged and altered) photographs and videos to garner regional and worldwide support. If this doesn’t sound new, it shouldn’t…especially if you are an Israeli. Hamas effectively used the same techniques to turn the Battle of Jenin in April, 2002 into not only a strategic informational victory, but a historical legend of resistance that lives on today in the hearts and minds of Palestinians."

Known Unknowns: Unconventional "Strategic Shocks" in Defense Strategy Development Mister Nathan P Freier PKSOI Paper by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, Strategic Studies Institute "The current defense team confronted a game-changing “strategic shock” in its first 8 months in office. The next team would be well-advised to expect the same. Defense-relevant strategic shocks jolt convention to such an extent that they force sudden, unanticipated change in the Department of Defense’s (DoD) perceptions about threat, vulnerability, and strategic response. Their unanticipated onset forces the entire defense enterprise to reorient and restructure institutions, employ capabilities in unexpected ways, and confront challenges that are fundamentally different than those routinely considered in defense calculations."