Recent Articles

Collins Center Update Volume 9, Issue 3 (Summer 2007) Professor B.F. Griffard, Professor Dennis M. Murphy, Mr. John Auger, Professor Jim Kievit, Colonel Michael Gould, MAJ Kyle Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership

Treating Allies as Allies in the Arab World Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "OK, so the Total Force is being expanded. What will that expansion look like? Colonel (Ret.) John Bonin of the U.S. Army War College argues that restricting the increase to all “trigger-pullers” is the wrong answer. In the long run, he is clearly correct, but maybe there is another dimension that bears consideration—the Trainees, Transients, Holdees, and Students (TTHS) limits."

Treating Allies as Allies in the Arab World Dr W Andrew Terrill Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "At this crucial junction in time, there are serious, evolving, and seemingly nonstop challenges involving the potential spread of violent upheaval and terrorism in the Middle East and particularly the Gulf region. To address these difficulties, the United States will need to work with friendly Arab nations that can help us meet those challenges with united strength. Unfortunately, the importance of our alliances with regional Arab powers is not always fully appreciated by our own strategic thinkers. Questions correspondingly emerge as to whether we are doing enough to understand allied concerns and find ways in which we can work together to address the terrorism threat."

Rethinking Insurgency Dr Steven Metz Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The U.S. military and national security community lost interest in insurgency after the end of the Cold War. Other defense issues such as multinational peacekeeping and transformation seemed more pressing and thus attracted the most attention. But with the onset of the Global War on Terror in 2001 and the ensuing involvement of the U.S. military in counterinsurgency support in Iraq and Afghanistan, insurgency experienced renewed concern in both the defense and intelligence communities."

Political Trends in the New Eastern Europe: Ukraine and Belarus Dr Arkady Moshes, Dr Vitali Silitski Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "These two papers, presented at the Strategic Studies Institute (SSI)-Ellison Center conference on Russia in 2006, open the way to this kind of informed understanding of important issues in European security and enable readers to begin to make sense of the complex issues involved in each country. In both cases, the interplay of domestic and foreign factors of security is critical to any grasp of the issues in Belarus and Ukraine and thus to sound policy analysis and policymaking in regard to them. This interplay is one of the defining features of the international security agenda that the U.S. Army, U.S. Government, and to a lesser degree, SSI grapple with on a daily basis and which SSI seeks to present to its audiences."

China's Nuclear Forces: Operations, Training, Doctrine, Command, Control and Campaign Planning Dr Larry M Wortzel Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Dr. Larry M. Wortzel’s monograph sheds new light on the operations, training, and doctrine of the Second Artillery Corps. The PLA is adding modernized mobile missile forces to the older silo-based strategic forces. At the same time, China is experimenting with multiple reentry vehicles, maneuverable reentry vehicles, and other penetration aids or countermeasures on its warheads as measures to respond to potential missile defenses. A nation-wide network of redundant command and control systems is now deployed around China to ensure retaliatory capabilities are available and responsive to the orders of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission. The PLA has generated new doctrine on how to integrate missile forces into its military campaigns at the operational level of war while still maintaining the strategic nuclear deterrent."

Ukraine's Military Between East and West Prof Marybeth Peterson Ulrich Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "America’s new allies in Central and Eastern Europe have been struggling with defense reform since the end of the Cold War. Only recently, since the Orange Revolution, has Ukraine’s national political and military leadership seriously engaged the process of radical and comprehensive defense reform. Dr. Marybeth Ulrich applies the various roadmaps for reform developed in the post-communist states of Central European states to the emerging Ukrainian case. She draws upon this mixed picture to suggest a framework focused on key areas in need of reform, as well as key conditions that will facilitate the achievement of reform objectives. The result is a richly developed case study revealing Ukraine’s main strengths as well as obstacles limiting the improvement of its military capabilities."

Strategic Competition and Resistance in the 21st Century: Irregular, Catastrophic, Traditional, and Hybrid Challenges in Context Mr Nathan P Freier Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The 2005 National Defense Strategy (NDS 05) introduced the concept of the four challenges—traditional, irregular, catastrophic, and disruptive. However, since the strategy’s publication in March 2005, little has emerged in the way of specific amplification of these concepts. Reference to the challenges is prolific in both formal and informal defense deliberations. Yet, there has always been some need for greater richness and granularity in their description and application in defense strategy and policymaking. For three of the four challenges, the wait is over. This monograph describes the foundational substance of the traditional, irregular, and catastrophic challenges as they were conceived at the working-level during development of NDS 05."

Collins Center Update Vol 9, Issue 2 Colonel Phil Evans, Mr. Ritchie Dion, Mr. Bill Waddell, Mr. Bob Barnes, Mr. John Auge, Mr. Kevin Cogan, Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership