Recent Articles

Lying to Ourselves: Dishonesty in the Army Profession Dr Wong Leonard, Dr Gerras Stephen Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "While it has been fairly well established that the Army is quick to pass down requirements to individuals and units regardless of their ability to actually comply with the totality of the requirements, there has been very little discussion about how the Army culture has accommodated the deluge of demands on the force. This study found that many Army officers, after repeated exposure to the overwhelming demands and the associated need to put their honor on the line to verify compliance, have become ethically numb. As a result, an officer’s signature and word have become tools to maneuver through the Army bureaucracy rather than being symbols of integrity and honesty. Sadly, much of the deception that occurs in the profession of arms is encouraged and sanctioned by the military institution as subordinates are forced to prioritize which requirements will actually be done to standard and which will only be reported as done to standard. As a result, untruthfulness is surprisingly common in the U.S. military even though members of the profession are loath to admit it. "

Always Strategic: Jointly Essential Landpower Dr Colin S Gray Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "American Landpower is a strategic instrument of state policy and needs to be considered as such. The purpose of this monograph is to explore and explain the nature of Landpower, both in general terms and also with particular regard to the American case. Five themes drive through this work. Specifically, it is argued that: (1) Landpower is unique in the character of the quality it brings to the American joint team for national security; (2) the United States has a permanent need for the human quality in Landpower that this element provides inherently; (3) Landpower is always and indeed necessarily strategic in its meaning and implications—it is a quintessentially strategic instrument of state policy and politics; (4) strategic Landpower is unavoidably and beneficially joint in its functioning, and this simply is so much the contemporary character of American strategic Landpower that we should consider jointness integral to its permanent nature; and, (5) notwithstanding the nuclear context since 1945, Landpower retained, indeed retains, most of the strategic utility it has possessed through all of history: this is a prudent judgment resting empirically on the evidence of 70 years’ experience. "

Breaking the Nordic Defense Deadlock Dr Stefan Forss, COL Pekka Holopainen Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Events in Ukraine in early-2014 have prompted a re-evaluation of national defense capabilities across Europe. In the case of the Nordic states (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland), this renewed attention has highlighted the lack of military resources to fulfill nationally stated defense tasks. Two decades of underinvestment in defense, force reductions, and focus on expeditionary crisis management in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), have combined to hollow out the once fundamental principles of territorial defense. Northern Europe has been left dangerously exposed to military coercion in a time of greatly increased uncertainty."

Strategic Insights: The China-CELAC Summit: Opening a New Phase in China-Latin America-U.S. Relations? R. Evan Ellis Article by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began to open its economy in 1978, its relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean has passed through four phases. Prior to its 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), it conducted limited engagements through principally diplomatic and cultural vehicles aimed at building relationships and winning diplomatic recognition among countries of the region."

United Nations Special Forces Manual United Nations Peacekeeping Missions Manual by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, United Nations "For several decades, United Nations peacekeeping has evolved significantly in its complexity. The spectrum of multi-dimensional UN peacekeeping includes challenging tasks such as helping to restore state authority, protecting civilians and disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating ex-combatants. In today’s context, peacekeeping missions are deploying into environments where they can expect to confront asymmetric threats from armed groups over large swaths of territory. Consequently, the capabilities required for successful peacekeeping missions demand ever-greater improvement."

Strategic Insights: A New Year's Resolution For Army Leaders William G. Braun III Article by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Americans love winners and deplore losers. The U.S. military’s greatest challenge to proving its relevance stems from a general perception that it cannot deliver results when confronted by the nation’s most pressing foreign policy problems. Barry Posen advocates that the United States abandon the post-Cold War strategy of engagement altogether, stating the: 'undisciplined, expensive, and bloody strategy [of American activism] has done untold harm to U.S. national security. It makes enemies almost as fast as it slays them, discourages allies from paying for their own defense, and convinces powerful states to band together and oppose Washington's plans, further raising the costs of carrying out its foreign policy' ..."

Peace & Stability Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2 Mister Robert C Browne Peace and Stability Journal by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute "The following paper is an excerpt from a JPME paper on the topic of building defense training and education institutions in Africa. It relies heavily on the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on February 1, 2010 for research, guidance, and conclusions. The 2014 QDR was approved and signed by the Secretary of Defense on March 4, 2014. Therefore, the publication of the new 2014 QDR requires several additional comments in order to highlight the new defense guidance on Africa contained within the document."

Strategic Insights: Brazil's Election 2014:Continuity or Change for the "Sleeping Giant"? José de Arimatéia da Cruz Article by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "On October 26, 2014, Brazilians went to the polls to elect a new president in one of the closest and most highly contested election in Brazil’s contemporary history since the military returned to their barracks in the early-1990s. The final results showed President Dilma Rousseff winning re-election with 51.6 percent in a runoff against her opponent, Aécio Neves, who received 48.4 percent. The choice for president could not have been more distinct between two diametrically opposite candidates; Rousseff, running for re-election as the candidate of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Worker’s Party or PT), and her opponent, former Governor and current Minas Gerais Senator, Neves, the candidate of the opposition Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (Brazilian Social Democracy Party or PSDB)."

United Nations Peacekeeping Missions Military Aviation 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 Manual on Military Aviation provides field commanders and their staff a guide for planning and conducting military aviation operations in support of United Nations peacekeeping operations. What is more, United Nations Headquarters and Mission staff will find this manual an essential reference as they plan for, generate and employ military aviation for UN Missions."