Towards a U.S. Army Officer Corps Strategy for Success: A Proposed Human Capital Model Focused upon Talent LTC Michael J Colarusso, COL David S Lyle, COL Casey Wardynski Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Creating and maintaining a highly competent U.S. Army Officer Corps has always been the cornerstone of the nation’s defense. Colonel Casey Wardynski, Major David S. Lyle, and Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Michael J. Colarusso consider America’s continuing commitment to an all-volunteer military, its global engagement in an era of persistent conflict, and evolving changes in its domestic labor market. They argue that the intersection of these factors demands a comprehensive Officer Corps strategy recognizing the interdependency of accessing, developing, retaining and employing talent. In their view, building a talent-focused strategy around this four-activity human capital model will best posture the Army to match individual officer competencies to specific competency requirements."

New NATO Members: Security Consumers or Producers? Dr Joel R Hillison Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In reading the headlines recently, one would assume that all of our North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies are shirking their commitments to the alliance and relying on the United States to do the heavy lifting in places like Afghanistan. But the reality is more nuanced. The contributions of NATO members vary greatly from country to country, and not all NATO allies can be characterized as free riders. While burden-sharing debates have been an enduring feature of NATO since its founding in 1949, they have become more heated in recent years as the U.S. military finds itself over-stretched in Afghanistan and Iraq and facing tough budgetary decisions due to the recent economic crisis."

Prospects for U.S.-Russian Security Cooperation Dr Stephen J Blank Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Many might argue that this is a singularly inauspicious time to assess the prospects for U.S.-Russian security cooperation. Arguably, the prospects for bilateral cooperation lay buried under the wheels of Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August 2008. As Vice-President Richard Cheney has said to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, “Russian aggression must not go unanswered,” and that “its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States.” Undoubtedly this invasion will have repercussions across the broad bilateral agenda, most of all insofar as regional security in the Caucasus is concerned. But ultimately, given their power, standing, and nuclear capability, dialogue and cooperation will be resumed at some point in the future. Therefore, an analysis of the prospects for and conditions favoring such cooperation is an urgent and important task that cries out for clarification precisely because current U.S.-Russian relations are so difficult."

Beyond the Strait: PLA Missions other than Taiwan Mr Roy Kamphausen, Dr David Lai, Dr Andrew Scobell Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute

Provincial Reconstruction Teams: How Do We Know They Work? Dr Carter Malkasian, Dr Gerald Meyerle Monograph by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The first provincial reconstruction team (PRT) stood up in January 2003 in the city of Gardez. A novel concept, PRTs combined civilian and military personnel into a single entity with the purpose of improving security, governance, and economic development. The idea was that PRTs would be able to get into areas where there was little or no presence on the part of the Afghan government or the development community and jumpstart reconstruction. In short order, the PRTs blossomed: seven more were established in 2003 and 11 were added to the list in 2004. Today there are 26 in Afghanistan: 12 under U.S. commanders and 14 under commanders from another country within the Coalition."

Russia and Arms Control: Are There Opportunities for the Obama Administration? Dr Stephen J Blank Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "As the Obama administration took office, Russo-American relations were generally acknowledged to be at an impasse. Arms control issues feature prominently in that conflicted agenda. Indeed, as of September 2008, the Bush administration was contemplating not just a break in arms talks but actual sanctions, and allowed the bilateral civil nuclear treaty with Russia to die in the Senate rather than go forward for confirmation. Russian spokesmen make clear their belief that American concessions on key elements of arms control issues like missile defenses in Europe are a touchstone for the relationship and a condition of any further progress towards genuine dialogue."

Kazakhstan's Defense Policy: An Assessment of the Trends Mr Roger N McDermott Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "In this monograph, Roger N. McDermott argues that Kazakhstan’s armed forces, though subject to many structural changes, have not yet experienced systemic military reform. He assesses the achievements and setbacks of U.S. and NATO defense assistance to the country, while also showing that Kazakhstan remains deeply linked in close defense and security partnership with Russia. McDermott suggests greater sophistication and follow-up is needed from Western assistance programs to ensure that Kazakhstan successfully gains genuine military capabilities and the type of armed forces it needs within the region."

Kiss the Embargo Goodbye Dr Alex Crowther Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The embargo on Cuba has been in place for almost 50 years. Although it may have been an appropriate policy response to the Cuban Revolution in the milieu of the Cold War, the reality of the 21st century calls for its abolishment. It is time to kiss the embargo goodbye, while maintaining an unyielding stance that democracy is the only acceptable form of government in the Western Hemisphere."

Building Partner Capacity/Security Force Assistance: A New Structural Paradigm COL Scott G Wuestner Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This paper examines the current Building Partner Capacity and Security Force Assistance capabilities and capacities within the U.S. Army as well as the Department of Defense. The current operational environment calls for us to look at history, policy, doctrine, and other academic proposals to identify capability and capacity gaps. As the General Purpose Force looks forward to expanding roles in Irregular Warfare, Foreign Internal Defense, and Security Assistance, does the U.S. Army have the proper force structure and minimal capability to fight and win the counterinsurgency of the future?"