News - Category Monographs

Perceiving a Competitor: Culture and Cognitive Biases of the Strong Enemy and the Pacing Threat
August 6, 2026 — The United States and China show distinct patterns of cultural cognition that shape their perceptions of the security environment and of each other. This monograph applies dynamic constructivist theories from cross-cultural psychology to national security, highlighting sources of misperception in competition. Recommendations covering education, recruiting and retention, perspective taking in practice, and long-term workforce development will help defense institutions achieve US cognitive advantage in the Indo-Pacific...

Fighting with Data: Design Implications for AI-Enabled Mission-Command Systems
August 5, 2026 — How will artificial intelligence change war fighting? Fighting with Data argues artificial intelligence–enabled mission command does more than accelerate decisions—it redistributes cognition across human-machine networks. The result is a new logic of combat in which trust, adaptation, and decision advantage depend on adapting faster, not just deciding faster, than an enemy...

Out of the Shadows: US Intelligence Sharing and the Russia-Ukraine War, 2021–24
July 30, 2026 — The declassification and public disclosure of US intelligence in anticipation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—together with the subsequent sharing of intelligence with Ukraine during the conflict—have significant implications for national security policy making and military operations in future support of allies and partners. Such intelligence disclosure and sharing provide critical advantages, but they also carry substantial risks...

A Human-Centric Framework: Employment Principles for Lethal Autonomous Weapons
January 12, 2026 — As lethal autonomous weapon systems become a battlefield reality, the Department of War must establish unambiguous employment criteria to allow war fighters to use these controversial systems ethically and responsibly. The updated policy should shift the conversation from the weapon system to humans by defining pre-deployment judgment and emphasizing accountability...

More Than a Numbers Game: Comparing US and Chinese Landpower in the Pacific Requires Context
July 22, 2025 — As the US Army organizes, trains, and equips for an unforeseen future, service decisions should create or amplify relative operational advantages over the US military’s rising foe—the People’s Liberation Army. Discerning critical differences between American and Chinese land forces is a prerequisite for such efforts...

Weaponizing Risk: Recalibrating Western Deterrence
July 22, 2025 — Can NATO increase the risks and costs of war for an adversary without unduly raising the alliance’s own? Can the alliance strengthen the credibility of NATO’s extended deterrence through a proxy strategy of “waging war without going to war”? ...

Thompson’s Rifle Battalion: The Original Unit of the Army of the United Colonies (Now the United States Regular Army)
April 22, 2025 — Why is 1775 depicted on the official flag of the US Army? Why did Congress form the Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion as the first non-militia unit in the army of the United Colonies? Who was the battalion’s commander, William Thompson? What happened to Thompson and his rifle battalion during the rest of the American Revolution?...

Toward a More Effective DoD Contribution to Strategic Competition in the Western Hemisphere
February 21, 2025 — Innovative new thinking is needed on the security challenges the People’s Republic of China poses in Latin America and the Department of Defense’s role in the US response, including (1) enhanced security cooperation that helps key democratic partners succeed and provides the United States leverage and situational awareness, and (2) anticipating how the People’s Republic of China may exploit its commercial and other activities in the region in times of war...

Pretexts for War and the Preinvasion Crisis in Ukraine
December 5, 2024 — The US strategy in the lead-up to the invasion of Ukraine undermined Russian efforts to justify the war. This monograph derives lessons about counterjustification strategy through an exhaustive study of US military, diplomatic, and informational activities during the crisis...

Bargaining for Justice: Ukraine, Gaza, and the Ethics of Conflict Termination
September 23, 2024 — This book, drawing on the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, offers a unique perspective by combining insights from bargaining theory and the just-war tradition. It demonstrates how moral commitments can serve as a framework for war termination, a topic relevant to scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in international relations and conflict resolution...