Strategic Issues

Proteus Insights and the Protean Media Critical Thinking Game COL William L Wimbish III Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "As our Nation continues to deal with the aftermath of 9/11, the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), and subsequent supporting operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, it has become harshly apparent that we have entered a new age of complexity. Leaders are going back to the drawing board to rethink how we deal and cope with future challenges spawned by the age of knowledge. Technology has enabled our foes to adapt and attack the fabric of our fundamental values, beliefs and foundations which have made our nation the global power it is today. These new-age threats have and will continue to be aimed at our vulnerabilities and seams. Using idiosyncratic methods and asymmetric techniques, super empowered groups and individuals are able to hide, adapt, and strike quickly, with precision."

The Collins Center Update Volume 8, Issue 3: April - June 2006 Colonel Chris Fowler, Professor B.F. Griffard, Colonel Dale C. Eikmeier, Dr. Tammy S. Schultz, Colonel Ken Smith Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership

The Collins Center Update Volume 8, Issue 2: January - March 2006 Professor Bert Tussing, Mr. Dana C. Hare, LTC Rick French, Prof Bert Tussing, Dr. Paul Smith, Prof. Terry Klapakis, COL Michael G. Gould Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership

CU @ The FOB: How the Forward Operating Base is Changing the Life of Combat Soldiers Dr Stephen J Gerras, Dr Leonard Wong Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This inquiry has been conducted in the midst of increasing questioning by policymakers and scholars concerning the importance and role of alliances and other multilateral arrangements and legal norms affecting the use of force by the United States. Provoked in part by the transatlantic altercations surrounding Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, the questioning is driven by systemic developments—changes in the structure of world politics and changes in the shape of war—of which the Iraq-focused disputes were a symptom."

Support to Civil Authority in Seismic Disasters: Regional Initiatives (U.S. Pacific Command Southeast Asia Seismic Disaster Preparedness Conference) Arthur L Bradshaw, Dr Kent H Butts, Prof Bernard F Griffard Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "The “Ring of Fire” is a tough neighborhood. Fellow residents include over 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes, and along their fence line are a series of dynamic tectonic plates that produce frequent, and sometimes violent, seismic events. This delicate relationship between man and nature was brought home to Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004 when a 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra produced a Tsunami that devastated the region. "

Collins Center Update - Volume 8, Issue 1: September - December 2005 Tammy S. Schultz, M. J. Cross, Colonel Richard Dillon, Colonel Ken Smith, Colonel Phil Evans, Kent Hughes Butts, Professor Dennis Murphy Collins Center Update by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership

Recognizing and Understanding Revolutionary Change in Warfare: The Sovereignty of Context Dr Colin S Gray Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This monograph provides an audit, a not-unfriendly critical review, of the concept of revolutionary military change. It offers a review of what those who theorize about, and those who are committed by policy to execute, such a revolution ought to know about their subject. As the subtitle of the analysis announces, the leading edge of the argument is the potency, indeed the sovereign importance, of warfare’s contexts."

Strategic Theory for the 21st Century: The Little Book on Big Strategy Dr Harry R Yarger Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The word “strategy” pervades American conversation and our news media. We tend to use strategy as a general term for a plan, a concept, a course of action, or a “vision” of the direction in which to proceed at the personal, organizational, and governmental—local, state, or federal—levels. Such casual use of the term to describe nothing more than “what we would like to do next” is inappropriate and belies the complexity of true strategy and strategic thinking. It reduces strategy to just a good idea without the necessary underlying thought or development. It also leads to confusion between strategy and planning, confining strategic possibilities to near-time planning assumptions and details, while limiting the flexibility of strategic thought and setting inappropriately specific expectations of outcomes. "

Information Operations and Winning the Peace: Wielding the Information Element of Power in the Global War on Terrorism Dennis M Murphy Issue Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "Perhaps more than ever before Information Operations (IO) is (or at least should be) the main effort tactically, operationally, and strategically in the current phase of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). This national effort is in fact about winning the “war of ideas.” However, it’s important to understand that this way of fighting is new to the United States and new to the world for that matter. Counterinsurgencies (COIN) have been fought in the past but the U.S. has never fought a counterinsurgency in an information environment so favorable to the enemy. This information environment favors the enemy’s strengths and exploits our vulnerabilities (truth, bureaucratic layers and clearances, real time press reporting, etc.). Thus, both of these factors (IO as the main effort in COIN and the current information environment) present new and unique dilemmas that must be examined and overcome."