Recent Articles

Civilian Skills for African Military Officers to Resolve the Infrastructure, Economic Development, and Stability Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa Ms Diane E Chido Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In the United States, we often think of the military as an alternative to college, as a professional training ground, for a wide variety of skills that may include computer science, electronics, cooking, or medicine. We have comprehensive job placement and support programs for separating service members. Our military training includes discipline, teaming concepts, and a respect for civil society, traits expected to remain with a military member for life. Through U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) partnership programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, many officers are currently benefitting from military-to-military training opportunities to learn aspects of military science and other basic training. A small number of officers will gain valuable skills they can use throughout their military careers or even in civilian life."

Reforming Military Command Arrangements: The Case of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force Mr Henrik Bliddal Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "After the Shah of Iran was deposed and the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the United States began to craft a new Persian Gulf Security Framework (PGSF). Consisting of military, diplomatic, economic, and covert steps, it signified a historic strategic reorientation towards the Persian Gulf. This paper examines an integral part of the PGSF: the creation of the Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF). As the first real tool for U.S. power projection in the area, and the immediate precursor to today’s Central Command (CENTCOM), the RDJTF has indeed left an important mark on the U.S. approach to the Persian Gulf. This paper is the fullest account of its creation thus far."

Should ROTC Return to the Ivy League? LTC Ernest A Szabo Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) has opened the possibility of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs returning to Ivy League and other elite (highly selective) universities and colleges. These institutions have not supported initiatives to maintain ROTC programs on their campuses due to the discriminatory nature of DADT, or perhaps they used the DADT policy as a rationale to keep programs, which had been closed during the Vietnam era, from returning."

Finding the Balance: U.S. Military and Future Operations Professor William J Flavin PKSOI Paper by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute "This monograph examines the U.S. Military’s struggle to find the correct balance between conventional and counterinsurgency/stability approaches. The author uses history to remind us that at the end of wars, Armies often “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and revert to a default position for organization and doctrine instead of inculcating those lessons learned in the recent wars. History shows us that we do not maintain capabilities and capacity to conduct operations in complex environments."

India in Africa: Implications of an Emerging Power for AFRICOM and U.S. Strategy Dr J Peter Pham Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM)—whose mission, “in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international partners,” is to conduct “sustained security engagement through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment”—is not alone in recognizing the strategic importance of Africa. This continent, in fact, has increasingly attracted significant attention from the major powers. While the extensive network of economic, political, and military ties that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has constructed across Africa in recent years, is relatively well known, India’s own rapidly expanding network of connections to the continent have gone largely unexamined."

Collins Center Update, Volume 13, Issue 1 (Winter 2011) Professor Bert B. Tussing, Colonel Samuel White, Jr, Dr. Jim Hartman, Professor B. F. Griffard, Colonel (Ret.) James W. Shufelt, Jr, Dr. Kent Butts Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership

A Continuation of Politics by Other Means: The "Politics" of a Peacekeeping Mission in Cambodia (1992-93) Boraden Nhem PKSOI Paper by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, Strategic Studies Insitute "Since the establishment of the United Nations (UN) in 1945, 63 peacekeeping missions have been authorized by UN mandate. Some fell directly under the UN, and others were conducted under UN authorization by lead nations. The mandates have been justified under UN Charter VI, “Pacific Settlement of Disputes,” and Chapter VII, “Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggression.”1 Regardless of intent, the UN record in peacekeeping is one of mixed success."

2010 SSI Annual Strategy Conference Report "Defining War for the 21st Century" COL Phillip R Cuccia, Dr Steven Metz Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The Strategic Studies Institute’s XXI Annual Strategy Conference, held at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from April 6-8, 2010, addressed the topic of the meaning of war. While it did not seek to produce a definitive answer to questions about the nature and definition of war, it did highlight the crucial questions and their implications, including issues such as whether the cause of war is shifting, whether all forms of organized, politically focused violence constitute war, and the distinction between passive and active war."

Information as Power, Volume 5 Jeffrey L. Caton, John H. Greenmyer, Jeffrey L. Groh, William O. Waddell Studies by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership, Information in Warfare Working Group "The Information in Warfare Working Group (I2WG) of the U.S. Army War College (USAWC) is pleased to present this anthology of selected student work from Academic Year 2010 representing examples of well-written and in-depth analyses on the vital subject of Information as Power. This is the fifth volume of an effort that began in 2006. The I2WG charter calls for it to coordinate and recommend the design, development and integration of content and courses related to the information element of power into the curriculum to prepare students for senior leadership positions. This publication is an important component of that effort."