Military Change & Transformation

Op-Ed: Changing the Army's Culture of Cultural Change Leonard Wong Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "In a profession as large as the U.S. Army, trying to influence the way organizational members think about specific issues can be a vexing proposition. Certainly new systems, policies, and procedures can force changes in behavior, but often what senior decisionmakers truly desire is a shift in attitudes—a culture change across the entire Army. Recent calls for Army culture change have emerged in areas as diverse as cyber security, resilience, sexual assault, leader development, language proficiency, and even energy conservation. Interestingly, the varied attempts at changing the Army’s culture over the past years seem to follow an amazingly similar template."

Changing Minds In The Army: Why It Is So Difficult and What To Do About It Dr Stephen J Gerras, Dr Leonard Wong Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "While changing one’s mind is not something we normally associate with strategic leadership, Stephen Gerras and Leonard Wong point out that it is not only a valuable skill at the strategic level, but also a necessary capability in the current security environment of complexity and change. Unfortunately, as the authors describe, changing one’s mind does not come easy for Army senior leaders. Individual and organizational factors emerge that make the ability to change one’s mind difficult and elusive. Nevertheless, this monograph introduces a concept that all Army senior leaders should evaluate both in themselves and the Army profession."

SOLLIMS Sampler - Lessons on Stability Operations from U.S. Army War College Students Mister David A Mosinski PKSOI SOLLIMS Sampler by the US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute "In Academic Year 2013, U.S. Army War College students in PKSOI elective courses were given the opportunity to enter a Lesson Learned (gained from operational experience) into the SOLLIMS database. Over 80 Lessons Learned were captured, covering topics such as Governance, Security Sector Reform, Economic Stabilization, and Comprehensive Approach. The vast majority have Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM) applications."

Lead Me, Follow Me, Or Get Out of My Way: Rethinking and Refining the Civil-Military Relationship Dr Mark R Shulman Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph explains why robust civil-military relations matter and discusses how they are evolving. Without meaningful and reliable civilian control of the military, governments lose some measure of control over the destiny of their nations. In extreme circumstances, a lack of civilian control can even lead to a coup d’état. Part I discusses A More Perfect Military: How the Constitution Can Make Our Military Stronger by Diane Mazur, a book that examines the jurisprudence that has reshaped civil-military relations. Mazur maintains that since the Vietnam era, the U.S. Supreme Court has in effect distanced the Armed Forces from general society in order to create a separate—and more socially conservative—sphere..."

Cyber Ricochet: Risk Management and Cyberspace Operations Mr Benjamin C Leitzel Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "Recent media reports of the ‘Duqu’, ‘Flame’, and ‘Stuxnet’ malware highlight cyberspace operations capabilities as well as emphasize the vulnerabilities of computer networks and systems. Many computer security vulnerabilities go undetected for years and once discovered vendors can take months to correct the defects. Even after vendors release ‘patches’ to correct the problem, most users fail to update their systems immediately and completely. The result is a cyberspace environment plagued with undefended systems where seams and gaps are exposed to even the most novice cyber threat actor."

Sustainability and National Security Mister James Hartman Study by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "The U.S. Army organizationally embraced the paradigm of sustainability over six years ago as the seeds of sustainability were sown by pioneer installations such as Fort Bragg and Fort Lewis at the onset of the new century. Today, the Army continues to apply sustainable practices and principles while driving innovative technologies to enhance mission capabilities. This paper examines the evolution of the Army sustainability program, and how sustainability is contributing to national security strategic objectives. Global demographic and natural resource trends are not only disturbing but now pose a threat to U.S. national security, prosperity, and the American way of life..."

2011-2012 US Army War College Key Strategic Issues List Antulio J. Echevarria II Document by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "The Key Strategic Issues List (KSIL) is published annually for the purpose of making students and other researchers aware of strategic topics that are, or should be, of special importance to the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army. The list is a compilation of input from the faculty at the U.S. Army War College, as well as from civilian and military experts across the field of defense studies. The topics reflect ongoing as well as anticipated strategic concerns, each of which is revised as the changing security environment warrants. This year has seen immense political and social changes sweep across North Africa and the Middle East. It has also seen important strategic and tactical successes in the war against al Qaeda..."

The New Aztecs: Ritual and Restraint in Contemporary Western Military Operations Dr Zhivan Alach Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The idea that the military environment is constantly evolving, becoming more and more dangerous and technologically sophisticated, is a common one. In the past century, we have seen the emergence of total war, nuclear weapons, and bloody unconventional and asymmetric campaigns. We have used many of the offshoots of this evolutionary idea to guide our own setting of defense policy, seeing in the evolution a constant escalation, albeit one perhaps marred by occasional yet small oscillations. "

Relationship Between Military Engineers and Environmental Issues Ms Marcela Ramirez Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "According to the National Science Foundation, Environmental Engineering relates to understanding the impacts of human activities on the public health, natural environmental quality, natural resources and with developing the scientific basis for identifying, analyzing, solving, mitigating, or managing environmental problems caused by human activities. There is an innate requirement to fully leverage information technology, training and education to provide integrated engineering and environmental management, execution, and technical services in support of the populace."