Recent Articles

by Mr. Benjamin Bahoque, COL David Taylor, COL Michael Smith, COL Kurt McDowell, LTC Katie Enochs. The U.S. military stands at a pivotal juncture, tasked with sustaining its maneuver warfare advantage through 2040 amidst rapid technological advancements, evolving geopolitical dynamics, and an increasingly complex multi-domain operational environment. This report, produced by a Futures Seminar Research Team at the United States Army War College, represents eight months of rigorous research from October 2024 to May 2025, addressing the Joint Staff J7 Lt Gen Anderson’s critical question: How can the U.S. military innovate to maintain its maneuver warfare advantage through 2040? Drawing on open-source documents and employing structured analytic techniques such as the Nominal Group Technique, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Process, Alternative Competing Hypotheses, and the Millhone Method, the report achieves moderate analytic confidence given the complexities of forecasting over a 15-year horizon. Five key findings anchor the analysis: the imperative of an elastic mindset, the centrality of rapid adaptation, the transformative potential of emerging technologies, the necessity of a unified innovation ecosystem, and the need for talent management reform. These findings collectively chart a strategic path to ensure the U.S. military remains agile, predictive, and dominant in an era of unprecedented disruption.

by Professor Kristan J. Wheaton; Issue paper from the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership; A battle is going on right now, and every military in the world is fighting it. Victory in the ongoing battle is crucial. The militaries on the winning side will likely be on the winning side of the next large-scale war. The losers will likely be forgotten, studied only for the mistakes they made. This is the battle of Moore’s chasm. The battle of Moore’s chasm takes place everywhere. Physical manifestations of the battle exist in Ukraine, the Taiwan Strait, and Gaza. But equally important conceptual and theoretical manifestations of the battle exist in the Pentagon, on Arbatskaya Square in Moscow, and deep inside the August 1st Building in Beijing. What this battle is about, and how to win it, are the subjects of this issue paper.

John A. Bonin, ©2025 John A. Bonin; Monograph from the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press; Although 1775 is indisputably the birth year of the US Army, two events occurred on June 14 of that year to which the Army can credit its birthday. One is the adoption by the Continental Congress of the collective militia forces from several colonies outside Boston to form a Continental Army, of which Congress appointed George Washington the commander in chief on June 15, 1775. In addition, the US Regular Army officially dates its beginning to June 14, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress directed 10 companies of expert riflemen to be raised immediately in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. William Thompson’s commission as the colonel of the Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion was dated June 25, 1775, and made him the first colonel of what would eventually become, through George Washington’s Continental Army, the US Regular Army. But William Thompson has not found a prominent place in the American pantheon of revolutionary heroes for a variety of reasons. In addition, Thompson’s Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion later became the 1st Continental Regiment and ended the American Revolution as the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, but its lineage has not continued in the modern US Army.

by Professor Kristan J. Wheaton, Professor Bert Tussing, Dr. George Schwartz, Mr. Brian Foster, Patricia Hayes, Mr. Chad Jagmin; Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership; The Collins Center Update is a quarterly summary of programs and activities at the Center for Strategic Leader (CSL) at the U.S. Army War College (USAWC). This issue features articles on the Innovation Champions Course by Prof. Kristian Wheaton; The Homeland Defense Symposium by Professor Bert Tussing and Dr. George Schwartz; The National Security Simulation Exercise of Competition, Crisis, and Conflict by Mr. Brian Foster; The Valley Forge Military College National Security Symposium by Dr. George Schwartz; The USAWC Fellows Focus by Ms. Patricia Hayes; and The From Data to Decision in Warfighting Course by Mr. Chad Jagmin.

John R. Deni and Jeffrey D. Rathke, Editors; Collaborative study from the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, American-German Institute, US Army War College Press; The essays in this volume analyze Germany’s Zeitenwende, a pivotal shift in security policy triggered by Russia’s reinvasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Key topics include national security strategy, defense policy, energy policy, industrial strategy, and international relations with Russia, China, the United States, NATO, and the EU. Copyright: Chapter 1 - ©2025 John R. Deni. All rights reserved; Chapter 2 - ©2025 Marina E. Henke. All rights reserved; Chapter 3 - ©2025 John R. Deni. All rights reserved; Chapter 4 - ©2025 Aylin Matlé. All rights reserved; Chapter 5 - ©2025 Sophia Besch. All rights reserved; Chapter 6 - ©2025 Tim Bosch. All rights reserved; Chapter 7 - ©2025 Angela E. Stent. All rights reserved; Chapter 8 - ©2025 Jeffrey D. Rathke and Theresa Luetkefend. All rights reserved; Chapter 9 - ©2025 May-Britt U. Stumbaum and Sharon de Cet. All rights reserved;

R. Evan Ellis, ©2025 R. Evan Ellis; Monograph from the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press; Innovative new thinking on the security dimension of the challenges posed by the PRC’s engagement in Latin America and the DoD’s role in the whole-of-government US response is needed. This monograph highlights risks from PRC influence networks, digital architectures, and dual-use commercial facilities in the region, particularly at ports and in the space sector; shows how PRC economic engagement and other support sustains illiberal regimes, indirectly contributing to the risks these regimes pose by hosting criminal and terrorist groups and other US adversaries, such as Russia and Iran; and illustrates how commercial, people-to-people, and security engagements create options for the PRC to exploit against the United States in times of war. It advocates for new effects-based strategic concepts for how the DoD can strengthen cooperation with the region and limit PRC access through enhanced security cooperation and leveraging partners’ valuation of their relationships with the United States to influence their choices regarding cooperation with the PRC and gain better situational awareness for responding to China. Finally, it discusses how the United States should work with regional partners to plan for likely PRC actions in the region in times of war, leveraging the presence, relationships, and knowledge created through engagement.

Edited by Dr. George M. Schwartz; Conference proceedings from the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership; In February 2024, The US Army War College hosted the first of an annual series of Homeland Defense Symposiums at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. The purpose of the symposium was to examine the challenges of Homeland Defense while advancing research and proposing solutions to strategic challenges facing the Army, Joint Force, and governmental agencies. Partnering with leading agencies to examine these issues, the symposium informed the strategic thought being focused on homeland defense issues, both inside and out of the military, with a multi-faceted focus of deterring aggression, defeating an adversary should deterrence fail, and mitigating the impact of the adversary’s actions against our people, our infrastructure, and our institutions. This compendium summarizes the symposium proceedings and makes a major contribution to the existing body of knowledge regarding the mission, concepts, and challenges of homeland defense. The US Army War College will use the results of the symposium to shape continued examination of and offer solutions to this vital topic.

by LTC Blair Wilcox, LTC Chris Miller, Dr. José de Arimatéia da Cruz, Dr. Michele Devlin, Patricia Hayes, MAJ Andy O’Neill, Dr. Charles Anderson, Jamie Lethiecq; Collins Center Update from the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership; Inside this Issue: From Data to Decision in Warfighting Course, From Players to Creators: Cultivating War Game Design Skills for Twenty-First Century Challenges, The Antarctic: The Importance of the White Continent, New US Army War College Fellowship: Baltic Defense College, War and Peace and Pieces at Connections 2024, Academic Year 2025 New War College Fellowships: Vanderbilt University, The Theater Army Staff Course Enters Fourth Year

By Dr. Michele Devlin, COL Damon Delarosa, Mr. Hugh Hardin, COL John Harrell, COL Virginia Knorr, COL Yoon Choi, Dr. John Munro, Mr. Brian Gellert, Mr. Steve Cunliffe; Report from the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership; This report analyzes the pressing issue of climate-amplified out-migration of local indigenous workers who support the US Army Garrison-Kwajalein Atoll (USAG-KA) in the Marshall Islands. Escalating environmental impacts, poor economic opportunities in the host nation, limited access to advanced health care, and poor educational opportunities are key drivers of increased Marshallese out-migration to the United States, shrinking the pool of current and future local workers for the USAG-KA. This report emphasizes the real and escalating environmental impacts on US military installations in terms of both infrastructure damage and the human communities that surround US bases and provide local labor for these facilities.