Strategic Issues

Futures Seminar 2019 - What Kind of Army does the Nation Need in 2025 and Beyond Samuel R. White, Jr. Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership "From a national security perspective, war remains fundamentally political, people-centric, and complex.16 These three aspects, along with violence and coercion, have been essential aspects of conflict since the dawn of recorded history. As we explore what the operational environment of the future will look like, modern security practitioners argue that this nature of warfare does not change; even with technological advances the role of leaders in the organizing and motivating human capital will remain the same..."

Strategic Leadership Primer for Senior Leaders, 4th ed. Dr Thomas P Galvin, Dr Dale E. Watson 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 "Leadership is not easy, and there is no magic recipe for successful leadership. That is why there are so many business books about leaders and leadership traits. In the military, we focus on leader development at the very beginning of service, in basic training, and at pre-commissioning . . . every Soldier is a leader. While the principles of tactical leadership are not always easy to do and are certainly aspirational, they are fundamental in nature; provide clear vision and intent, develop mutual understanding and trust, build cohesive teams that work together to achieve decisive results in line with our professional ethic, and provide orders and guidance that develop initiative and focus on what to do and for what purpose, rather than emphasizing the how."

Two Case Studies of Successful Strategic Communication Campaigns Dr Thomas P. Galvin Report by the US Army War College, School of Strategic Landpower, US Army War College Press, Strategic Studies Institute "Strategic communication has historically been cited as a weakness in U.S. military operations, both at the operational and strategic levels. Numerous studies have highlighted problems with U.S. abilities to promote a coherent message and influence the environment to be favorable to its strategic interests. Failures are easy to identify. The effects of poor communication can manifest themselves quickly; however, what about successes? Rarely are they discussed, perhaps because it is difficult to know when a campaign achieved enough of the desired effects such that leaders can claim success."

Communication Campaigning: 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 "Strategic communication is both an art and a science, a malleable hybrid process that makes achieving consensus on the best organizational approach to a communications campaign difficult to achieve. Too often, national and military leaders favor the science, and deliver messages that are rational in their construction but uninspiring to stakeholders and members of the organization alike. But too much artistry is also a problem. If the message is not grounded in the identity of the organization, it fails to be authentic or motivating..."

USAWC School of Strategic Landpower/DMSPO Campaign Planning Handbook AY19 COL Mark Haseman Publication by 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 Theater Strategy and Campaigning (TSC) 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 published doctrine and emerging doctrine at the higher levels of joint command, with a primary emphasis at the combatant command level."

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."

Defense Management: 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 "Defense management resides at the nexus of national security policy, strategy, campaigning, and strategic leadership. It is how our government translates national security policies and strategies into trained and ready forces for combatant commanders—units of personnel and equipment that mobilize, deploy, conduct and sustain operations, redeploy, and demobilize. However, it is far more complicated than managing forces on hand. It involves the development of new ones to address emerging threats, posturing the forces around the globe for ease of employment, and ensuring adequate command, control, and support in garrison and during operations..."

Futures Seminar 2018 - What Kind of Army does the Nation Need in 2035 and Beyond Samuel R. White, Jr. Paper by the US Army War College, Center for Strategic Leadership " 'What kind of Army does the nation need in 2035 and beyond?' This 5th annual compendium is the result of the Futures Seminar student requirement to write a paper addressing this question. Predicting the needs of the Army 10-15 years into the future is risky, tough business. As Colonel Richard H. Witherspoon wrote in his Forward to the original 1997 Army After Next Project Compendium, "This is a difficult task with no "Right" or "Wrong" markers." This compendium is an honest effort to look to the horizon and explore what might be possible."

Campaign Planning Handbook AY18 DMSPO 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 Theater Strategy and Campaigning (TSC) 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 doctrine and emerging doctrine at the higher levels of joint command, with a primary emphasis at the combatant command level."