The Challenge of Drug Trafficking to Democratic Governance and Human Security in West Africa Mr David E Brown Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "...Mr. Brown’s Letort Paper describes how West Africa is under attack from international criminal networks that are using the subregion as a key global hub for the distribution, wholesale, and increasing production of illicit drugs, most prominently cocaine, but also heroin and amphetamines and their precursors. While West African states have made remarkable progress in democratic and economic development over the past decade, the insidious effects of narcotics trafficking have the potential to reverse many of these gains..."

Cyber Infrastructure Protection: Vol. II Dr Vincent Boudreau, COL Louis H Jordan Jr, Dr Tarek N Saadawi Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "There is a relentless struggle taking place in the cybersphere as government and business spend billions attempting to secure sophisticated network and computer systems. Cyber attackers are able to introduce new viruses, worms, and bots capable of defeating many of our efforts. The U.S. Government has set a goal of modernizing the nation’s energy grid. A cyber attack on our energy grid could cut off service to large areas of the country. Government, business, and academia must therefore work together to understand the threat and develop various modes of fighting cyber attacks, and to establish and enhance a framework for deep analysis for this multidimensional issue."

Egypt's New Regime and the Future of the U.S.-Egyptian Strategic Relationship Mr Gregory Aftandilian Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "This monograph, completed in August 2012, analyzes the developments in Egypt from January 2011 to August 2012 and addresses the following questions that are pertinent to U.S. policymakers: How does the United States maintain good relations and preserve its strategic partnership with Egypt under Cairo’s new political leadership and the changing political environment in the country? How does it do so while adhering to American values such as supporting democracy even when those coming to power do not share U.S. strategic goals? The monograph first examines Egypt’s strategic importance for the United States by exploring Egypt’s role in the Arab-Israeli peace process, its geographical role (providing air and naval access) for U.S. military assets heading to the Persian Gulf, and joint training programs. With so much at stake in the Middle East, “losing” Egypt as a strategic ally would be a significant setback for the United States."

Making Strategic Sense of Cyber Power: Why the Sky Is Not Falling Dr Colin S Gray Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Generically viewed, the challenge that cyber power poses to our understanding is a familiar one. After all, within living memory (just about) we have had to try and make sense of air power, and then, a generation later, of nuclear weapons and their possible delivery by ballistic missiles. What unites our experience with air power, nuclear weapons, and now cyber, is the authority of strategic explanation conveyed in the general theory of strategy—Carl von Clausewitz’s rules, even though he was ignorant of hydrogen fusion weapons and of networked digital compute."

Sharing Power? Prospects for a U.S. Concert-Balance Strategy Dr Patrick Porter Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Grand strategy is an important subject. It is about the dialectical relationship between power and commitments, ends, and means. Grand strategy concerns not only the alignment of resources with goals, but how to conceive those goals in the first place. At root, it is about the identity of the security community. What kind of country does it want to be, and what kind of country does it have the power to be?"

Governance, Identity, and Counterinsurgency: Evidence from Ramadi and Tal Afar Dr Michael Fitzsimmons Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "The premise of most Western thinking on counterinsurgency is that success depends on establishing a perception of legitimacy among local populations. The path to legitimacy is often seen as the improvement of governance in the form of effective and efficient administration of government and public services. However, good governance is not the only possible basis for claims to legitimacy. This monograph considers whether, in insurgencies where ethno-religious identities are politically salient, claims to legitimacy may rest more on the identity of who governs, rather than on how those people govern..."

Talking Past Each Other? How Views of U.S. Power Vary between U.S. and International Military Personnel COL Richard H M Outzen Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "This Paper addresses the question of whether anecdotally observed friction between U.S. military personnel and their international partners stems from underlying bias or other factors that cannot be practically remedied. After providing a backdrop of the types of friction that have been observed, and that seem to be escalating, the Paper examines alternative theoretical explanations for such friction. The friction mirrors, in a sense, the broader sharpening of anti-U.S. sentiment observed throughout much of the globe over the past decade. There are two broad explanatory approaches: the friction and sentiment stem from who we are and are thus immutable; or they stem from discrete actions and policies, and thus may be ameliorated to some degree."

Strategic Stability: Contending Interpretations Mr. Elbridge A Colby, Mr. Michael S Gerson Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press

A National Security Staff for the 21st Century Dr Jack A LeCuyer Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "America stands at a crossroads. Within the past 2 decades, national security and foreign policy organizations and experts have perceived serious deficiencies in the authorities, organizations, and personnel used to prepare for and conduct national security missions allowing the United States to exercise its power to fullest advantage in achieving the goals of our national security strategy. If the nation is to maintain its world leadership and influence, it must transform its obsolete national security system to enable better handling of the challenges and opportunities of the changed global ecosystem. This transformation must go beyond simple reform and doing the same things differently. It must involve doing new things that enable us to truly establish collaborative, networked, performance-based management of the national security system at the strategic level, management that cascades down to the departments, agencies, and elements in the field. "