Recent Articles

In Support of the Common Defense Journal - Volume 1 Bert B. Tussing, Kurt Crytzer, Steve Carney Study by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "An unspoken standard of the Armed Forces has always been, “When the nation is least ready, we must be most ready.” While that rings clear as far as warfare is concerned, it is not nearly so when it comes to the realm of domestic security. In spite of strategies that continue to espouse homeland security and homeland defense as “job one,” woefully few in the Department of Defense have studied the issues, the intricacies, and the nuances that necessarily surround the use of the military in the domestic environment. "

Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability Dr Vanda Felbab-Brown, Dr Phil Williams Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The rationale for this series is a reflection of the ways in which the world of armed groups has changed and is continuing to change, and the impact of these changes on threats and challenges to national and global security. Although challenges posed by various kinds of violent armed groups initially appear highly diverse and unrelated to one another, in fact they all reflect the increasing connections between security and governance—and, in particular, the relationship between poor governance and violent armed groups. The growth in the number of states with capacity gaps, functional holes, and legitimacy deficits helps to explain the resurgence of a new medievalism, and the rise of illegal quasi-governments in localized areas. The irony is that after several decades in which the number of sovereign states represented in the United Nations (UN) has increased significantly, relatively few of these states can truly claim a monopoly on force within their territorial borders."

Conflict Management and "Whole of Government": Useful Tools for U.S. National Security Strategy? Dr Robert H Dorff, Dr Volker C Franke Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, Kennesaw State University, and KSU's International Conflict Management Throughout most of the 20th century, national security focused primarily, and sometimes exclusively, on military affairs. In the 21st century, this has changed as new and more comprehensive ways of thinking about, studying, and planning for national security and global security are being adopted in response to new security challenges and threats that go beyond the dangers posed by traditional causes of war and conflict. In addition to terrorism, these other threats to security are posed by, but not limited to, shortfalls of energy and nonfuel mineral resources, scarcity of food and fresh water, encroaching desertification, and cyber attacks. To some, these new challenges and threats present as much, and over time perhaps more, of a challenge and threat to security as do guns, bombs, and missiles.

Security Sector Reform in Timor-Leste: Missed Opportunities and Hard Lessons in Empowering the Host-Nation Mr Nicholas J Armstrong, Ms Jacqueline Chura-Beaver, Isaac Kfir PKSOI Paper US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute "The authors explore the dichotomy for host-nation ownership with the role of foreign assistance in security sector reform. They conclude that this balance is a critical variable that will determine success or failure regardless of the starting condition. Their conclusion serves to highlight the importance of the present U.S. defense strategic guidance, with its emphasis on the promotion of security, prosperity, and human dignity through capacity building engagements."

Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO Dr Jeffrey D McCausland, Dr Tom Nichols, Dr Douglas Stuart Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute The role and future of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe are subjects that sometimes surprise even experts in international security, primarily because it is so often disconcerting to remember that these weapons still exist. Many years ago, an American journalist wryly noted that the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was “a subject that drives the dagger of boredom deep, deep into the heart”—a dismissive quip which would have remained true right up until the moment World War III broke out. The same goes for tactical nuclear weapons: compared to the momentous issues that the East and West have tackled since the end of the Cold War, the scattering of hundreds (or in the Russian case, thousands) of battlefield weapons throughout Europe seems to be almost an afterthought, a detail left behind that should be easy to tidy up.

MAPRO: Mass Atrocity Prevention and Response Options Professor Dwight Raymond Guides and Handbooks by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute "This Handbook is designed to be a reference for policy makers to monitor, prevent, and if necessary respond to genocide and other mass atrocity situations. It addresses topics promulgated in the August 2011 Presidential Study Directive on Mass Atrocities (PSD-10) as well as recommendations contained in Preventing Genocide, the 2008 study published by the Genocide Prevention Task Force (GPTF)."

Collins Center Update, Volume 14, Issue 1 (Winter 2012) Colonel Barry Di Ruzza, Dr. Mark A. Van Dyke, Professor William Waddell, Colonel Sam White, Professor Bert Tussing, Colonel Steve Carney Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership

Project on National Security Reform - Vol. 2: Case Studies Working Group Report Dr Richard Weitz Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, Project on National Security Reform "Our current national security system is more than 60 years old, inaugurated by the Truman administration and adjusted only periodically and incrementally ever since. Designed for a world in which the primary threat was nuclear war between the two superpowers, in today’s rapidly changing global security environment the structures and processes of the national security apparatus have become more than antiquated: they are dangerous. Though talented men and women work tirelessly to keep America safe, they struggle within a system that inconsistently supports, obstructs, and even undermines their efforts."

Delegitimizing Al-Qaeda: A Jihad-Realist Approach Dr Paul Kamolnick Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "During the past 2 decades, America and the world have witnessed the ignoble rise and now-pending destruction of the al-Qaeda terrorist entity, one of the modern world’s most vicious and successful transnational organizations. Scholars and national security personnel have dedicated vast resources to dissecting and analyzing al-Qaeda’s ideological, strategic, organizational, and tactical strengths and weaknesses. Notable in this entire debate, however, has been the repeated refrain among scholars and U.S. policymakers that we have yet to design and execute a successful messaging campaign that effectively attacks and delegitimizes al-Qaeda in the eyes of potential recruits. Dr. Paul Kamolnick’s monograph is designed to address that present lacuna..."