Military Change & Transformation

“Come As You Are” War: U.S. Readiness for the Korean Conflict Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Shane P. Reilly, Jessica J. Sheets Historical Research Review by US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center "Task Force Smith at the beginning of the Korean War has often been used as a metaphor for military unreadiness. While the story of that first US action of the war provides a timeless cautionary tale for commanders, the story of unreadiness for war in June 1950 went much further than the tactical failures of one infantry battalion. The lack of readiness was caused by a very disruptive interwar period that saw drastic and often chaotic changes to Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership, Personnel, Facilities and Policy (DOTMLPF-P)."

Maintaining Information Dominance in Complex Environments Dr John A S. Ardis, Dr Shima D Keene Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "The U.S. Army is committed to a high state of resilience and readiness. The problem is that for complex environments, the U.S. Army cannot afford simply to be very effective in a known set of circumstances and unprepared for others, and neither can it afford to be no more than moderately capable in the broadest possible range of circumstances. The U.S. Army has to be effective across the board, and that places extraordinary demands on its Soldiers during all phases of preparation for and engagement in conflict."

Leading Change in Military Organizations: Primer for Senior Leaders Dr Thomas P. Galvin Publication by the US Army War College, Department of Command, Leadership, and Management, School of Strategic Landpower, US Army War College Press, Strategic Studies Institute "Making change happen is a popular topic among U.S. Army War College students and with good reason. There are endless problems to fix, procedures to improve, new ideas to introduce, and an ever-growing and evolving array of state and non-state actors chomping at the bit to challenge the U.S. Furthermore, systems and processes in use by the military rarely seem to bring about change at the desired speed."

Key Strategic Issues List 2018-2020 Document by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "As our National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy acknowledge, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and radical violent extremist organizations pose extant and potential challenges to U.S. national security. Those challenges exist within an extraordinarily complex global security environment characterized by dynamic changes in technology and its application, profound demographic shifts, economic redistribution and distortion, and geostrategic power realignments of historic proportions. These ever-intensifying conditions produce increasing uncertainty concerning the prospects for world peace, stability, and prosperity. Some strategists opine that the potential for great power interstate conflict is higher now than at any time since the end of the Cold War."

Strategic Insights: Revolutionary Change Is Coming to Strategic Leadership Dr Steven Metz Article by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press

Futures Seminar 2017 - The United States Army in 2035 and Beyond Samuel R. White, Jr. Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "In 2035-2050 the battlespace will be elongated and deepened - and hyper-connected. Engagements will occur at home station military bases through ports of debarkation to tactical assembly areas all the way to the adversary's motor pool. From space to the ocean floor; from military to non-military; from governmental to non-governmental; from state to non-state; from physical to virtual. The operational area will be wherever effects are generated - and the array of stimuli that will generate effects is staggering. The interconnected and global nature of everything will produce physical and virtual effects that have tremendous range, saturation and immediacy - along with daunting complexity and stealth."

Closer Than You Think: The Implications of the Third Offset Strategy for the U.S. Army Mr Samuel R White Jr Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is moving forward with a broad set of innovation initiatives designed to effectively posture the U.S. military for the coming decades. One sub-set of initiatives, the Third Offset, is focused on leap-ahead technologies and capabilities that may offset competitor parity in critical domains."

Rethinking Sovereignty in the Context of Cyberspace: The Cyber Sovereignty Workshop Series Cynthia E. Ayers "Recent successful "hacks," allegedly carried out by professionals acting on behalf of, or in concert with nation-states have heightened concerns about cyber warfare and sovereignty in the context of cyberspace. To maintain the integrity of U.S. and allied sovereign borders, it is imperative that security measures and defenses are coordinated and choreographed at the policy, strategy, and operational levels in the cyber domain, as well as in the physical world..."

The Changing Character of War 1775-2016 Dr Conrad C Crane, Dr Michael E Lynch, Dr James D. Scudieri Historical Research Review by US Army War College, Army Heritage and Education Center "The potential changes in the operating environment (OE) and the character of war in the next 15-20 years are unknowable and history cannot provide a predictive model or “cookbook” to anticipate future events. The last 250 years, however, have provided many examples of shifts in the character of war caused by emerging technology, political shifts, economic changes and diplomatic crises. This context may prove very useful for senior leaders. There will doubtless be technological advances in the future, and some may be “game changers.” Intellectual development is just as important as technological development..."