Recent Articles

United Nations Peacekeeping Missions Military Reconnaissance Unit Manual United Nations Peacekeeping Missions Manual by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, United Nations "This first edition of the United Nations (UN) Reconnaissance Unit Manual provides field commanders and their staff a guide for planning and conducting UN Reconnaissance Unit operations in support of UN peacekeeping Missions. Field Missions and UN Headquarters planners will also benefit from a common understanding of the employment, capabilities, tasks and organization of UN Reconnaissance Units as they develop the Statement of Unit Requirement (SUR) that is the basis for generating and deploying UN military units (see the sample of a previously-issued SUR at Annex A)."

A Russian View on Landpower Mr Keir Giles, Maj Gen Aleksandr V Rogovoy Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "In a time of rapid change for the U.S. Army, it is essential to retain awareness of how potential adversaries are also developing their concepts of Landpower. This Letort Paper, written by an influential Russian general, lays out an authoritative view on the importance of substantial conventional land forces, as seen from Moscow."

Another Brick in the Wall: The Israeli Experience in Missile Defense Dr Jean-Loup Samaan Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Over the last years, missile defense has resurfaced as a major feature of the strategic debate in the United States and among its close allies. In 2010, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Summit of Heads of State saw intense discussions among transatlantic partners on the strategic value of missile defense alongside the traditional deterrence means of the Alliance. But if these transatlantic debates are for the most part still speculative, for many years, one close American ally has already faced the concrete and immediate challenge of defending its territory against missiles and rockets—Israel."

Parsing Chinese-Russian Military Exercises Dr Richard Weitz Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "China and Russia have engaged in an increasing number of joint exercises in recent years. These drills aim to help the two countries deter, and if necessary defeat, potential threats—such as Islamist terrorists trying to destabilize Central Asian governments—while also reassuring their allies that China and Russia will protect them from such threats. Furthermore, the recurring exercises, and other joint Russia-China military activities, have a mutual reassurance function insofar as they inform Moscow and Beijing about the other’s military potential and thereby build mutual confidence."

Confidence Building in Cyberspace: A Comparison of Territorial and Weapons-Based Regimes Dr Mary Manjikian Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "This monograph examines two historic examples of the development of confidence-building measures (CBMs) so as to make recommendations regarding the development of CBMs for cyberspace. The first study looks at CBMs aimed at preventing the escalation of conflict in contested territories such as the Indo-Pakistan border. The second study looks at the development of a chemical weapons ban following World War I and the establishment of reporting and monitoring procedures to stem the proliferation of chemical weapons. Both cases offer lessons for cyber-based CBMs: One can borrow from territorial CBMs to establish a secure environment, or one can borrow from weapons-based CBMs to shape the development of new cyber technologies and prevent their proliferation."

Thucydides Was Right: Defining the Future Threat Dr Colin S Gray Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "This monograph examines the challenge in future threat definition. In order to do so, it is necessary to understand where identification of threat originates, and how and why such identification is made in the context of international political relations. This analysis makes fairly heavy use of the ideas in Thucydides’ great History of the Peloponnesian War. Effort is expended here to explain why a work written in Greece, in the late-5th century B.C., has high value for us today as a vital aid to understanding of our own current, and indeed future, security context."

Strengthening Statehood Capabilities for Successful Transitions in the Middle East / North Africa Region Dr Mohammed El-Katiri Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "In this monograph, Dr. El-Katiri focuses on the variety of challenges that face reform attempts in the post revolution Arab countries. He examines underlying factors that have prevented new political elites and post-revolution institutions from successfully implementing essential reforms, and how these failures have affected the building of their political legitimacy. He concludes with a series of specific policy recommendations, with the aim of preventing further deterioration to the detriment of U.S. interests."

Maturing Defense Support of Civil Authorities and the Dual Status Commander Arrangement through the Lens of Process Improvement Dr Ryan Burke, Dr Sue McNeil Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "The role of the military during homeland defense and civil support operations has significant strategic implications for U.S. national security efforts. Considerations for the future employment of Active Component forces during missions in the homeland have evolved into a major topic of conversation among policymakers and military strategists alike. In this context, there is a philosophical conflict between federalism and state sovereignty that continues to present itself as an impediment to success. Balancing the institutionally divergent approaches to achieve a unified, efficient, and effective response continues to prove problematic. The dual status commander (DSC) initiative offers a coordination mechanism intended to address the challenges of unity of effort between state and federal military response activities. However, there are numerous gaps in the available DSC guidance, which leads to increased complexity and confusion during domestic disaster response."

The State-Society/Citizen Relationship in Security Analysis: Implications for Planning and Implementation of U.S. Intervention and Peace/State-building Operations Dr Yannis A Stivachtis Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "In this monograph, Dr. Yannis A. Stivachtis, an international security analyst who currently serves as Associate Professor of International and Strategic Studies at Virginia Tech, argues that due to the presence of several “weak” states in the international system, the United States needs to devise and employ strategies aimed at preventing and managing the outbreak of domestic conflicts that have the potential of undermining regional and international peace and stability. He notes that states differ from one another in many ways and therefore their national security question is context dependent. As a result, U.S. strategists should be fully aware of what constitutes a security issue for social groups and individuals in third countries. Thus, U.S. strategic planning and actions should be based on the adoption of the broaden definition of security as well as the idea of human security. Since international stability is based on the stability of states, the United States needs to assist the creation and maintenance of “strong” states. "