Strategy & Policy

Strategic Cyberspace Operations Guide Benjamin C. Leitzel, Gregory D. Hillebrand "The U.S. Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership, recently updated its Strategic Cyberspace Operations Guide. This publication provides a guide for U.S. Army War College students to understand cyberspace strategy, policy, and law as well as design, planning, and execution of cyberspace operations. It combines existing U.S. Government Unclassified and "Releasable to the Public" documents into a single, convenient guide..."

Coercing Fluently: The Grammar of Coercion in the Twenty-first Century Dr C. A. Pfaff Monograph by the US Army War College, US Army War College Press, Strategic Studies Institute "To illustrate the logic and grammar of coercion, this analysis relies on decision-theory methods, such as game theory, that examine the strategic decision-making process in interactions with adversaries and partners. The intent here is not to offer predictive models of rational-actor behavior. Rather, the intent is to use game-theory and similar approaches to understand how coercion works better. This analysis considers competitive interactions between actors that have discrete and qualifiable, if not quantifiable, preferences and who behave rationally, though this analysis acknowledges the behavior that is considered rational is frequently informed by nonrational social, cultural, and psychological factors. Considering these competitive interactions allows one to identify “rules of thumb” that can orient and guide actors as they compete."

The Grand Strategy of Gertrude Bell: From the Arab Bureau to the Creation of Iraq. Dr Heather S. Gregg Monograph by US Army War College, US Army War College Press, Strategic Studies Institute "The remarkable life of early-twentieth-century British adventurer Gertrude Bell has been well documented through her biographies and numerous travel books. Bell’s role as a grand strategist for the British government in the Middle East during World War I and the postwar period, however, is surprisingly understudied. Investigating Gertrude Bell as both a military strategist and a grand strategist offers important insights into how Great Britain devised its military strategy in the Middle East during World War I—particularly, Britain’s efforts to work through saboteurs and secret societies to undermine the Ottoman Empire during the war and the country’s attempts to stabilize the region after the war through the creation of the modern state of Iraq..."

by LTC Lee Hemming (USMC), LTC Randy Paul Lefebvre, LTC Matthew "Kip" Marsh, COL John Cletus Paumier (USAR), Pratya "Lek" Siriwat; Publication from the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership; China’s Use of Landpower for Unification of Taiwan delves into China’s multifaceted strategy to unify Taiwan by 2049 through the lens of landpower. The document outlines three main strategies: unification by maneuver, leveraging geopolitical and economic influence to isolate Taiwan; unification by fires, preparing for potential military aggression; and unification by mistake, exploiting missteps by Taiwan or its allies. Each strategy reflects China’s long-term vision and military modernization efforts, emphasizing strategic patience and the use of time as a domain to achieve its objectives without immediate conflict.

Transitional Public Security: Establishing Security in the “Golden Hour” Dr. Karen Finkenbinder PKSOI Paper by US Army War College, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute "TPS is necessary to ensure that communities in post-conflict environments, or when law and order has broken down, are stabilized; thus, preventing bad actors from flourishing. It may well be that Department of Defense (DoD) is tasked to conduct TPS in accordance with DoD policy. A lot of work has been done to ensure that DoD is prepared to implement the policy and much more needs to be done. This is the story of where we are now and how we got there."

James M. Mitchell, James A. Kievit, Kirk J. Junker, Patrick J. Malone, Leslie L. Semrau; Publication by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership; The U.S. Army War College student team “Indovino Nefario” analyzes the future force design approaches of China and Russia, emphasizing that both nations are likely to adopt policy-driven and competition-centric strategies rather than traditional doctrinal frameworks. The report highlights that while China focuses on integrating military and economic strategies through its Military Civil Fusion policy, Russia is expected to prioritize asymmetric capabilities and modernization of its conventional forces to maintain deterrence amid economic constraints, with both nations aiming to mitigate risks associated with armed conflict in 2035.

Campaign Planning Handbook AY21 Col. Keith Burkepile, COL Matthew D. Morton, COL Veronica Oswald-Hrutkay Publication from the US Army War College, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, School of Strategic Landpower "The purpose of this document is to assist United States Army War College students during the Military Strategy and Campaigning (MSC) course. It also serves to assist commanders, planners, and other staff officers in combatant commands (CCMD), joint task forces (JTF), and service component commands. It supplements joint doctrine and contains elements of emerging doctrine as practiced globally by joint force commanders (JFCs). It portrays a way to apply draft doctrine awaiting signature, published doctrine, and emerging concepts, all at the higher levels of joint command, with a primary emphasis at the combatant command level."

A Policy Response to Islamic State Extremist Fighter Battlefield Migration Dr Robert J Bunker, Dr. Alma Keshavarz Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "This monograph by Dr. Robert J. Bunker and Dr. Alma Keshavarz examines the important subject of extremist fighter migration by first providing an overview of the Islamic State’s pedigree along with its precaliphate and transcaliphate territorial strategies, postcaliphate strategic potential, and demographic information. These discussions are followed by problem identification related to returning extremist fighters, inflows into Syria and Iraq, outflows to the United States and new battlefields overseas, and the special case of women and children."

Key Strategic Issues List (KSIL) 2021–2022 COL Steve Cunningham KSIL Document by US Army War College, USAWC Strategic Studies Institute, School of Strategic Land power, US Army War College Press "The 2018 National Defense Strategy sounded a clear call for the Nation’s armed services to prepare for an increasingly intense and, at times, chaotic period of competition with a variety of state and non-state adversaries. The Army responded to this call by accelerating its refinement of a Multi-Domain operating concept as highlighted in a revised Army Vision, Strategy, Campaign Plan, Modernization Strategy, and other key documents published throughout 2018 and 2019."