Books

Challenging the United States Symmetrically and Asymmetrically: Can America be Defeated? COL Lloyd J Matthews Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The U.S. Army War College’s Ninth Annual Strategy Conference was held at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, during the period March 31-April 2, 1998. The theme of the conference was “Challenging the United States Symmetrically and Asymmetrically: Can America Be Defeated?” There were some 150 attendees, including active duty military personnel as well as members of academe, the U.S. Defense and service departments, think tanks, corporations, and news media."

Reforming NATO's Military Structures: The Long-Term Study and Its Implications for Land Forces Dr Thomas-Durell Young Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The contemporary debate over the expansion of NATO to include Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary has largely overshadowed an important effort on the part of the Alliance to achieve “internal adaptation” through the work of the Long-Term Study. Part of this process has been a tortuous attempt to reform and reorganize the Alliance’s integrated command structure. Often taken for granted, this structure provides the basis for NATO’s collective defense, and increasingly, as seen in Bosnia, its ability to undertake peace support operations. However, the very value by which nations hold the structure has resulted in a difficult and time-consuming reorganization process which has produced only limited reforms."

Russia's Armed Forces on the Brink of Reform Dr Stephen J Blank Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The Russian armed forces, by all accounts, are fast approaching a point of no return. The crisis in the armed forces is directly traceable to the policies of the Yeltsin government which have alternated among politicization, fragmentation of those forces into multiple, contending militaries, and the creation of a quasi-authoritarian political process where military policy is decided by irregular institutions that account to and answer to nobody other than President Yeltsin. Similar problems plague the defense economy which is probably still too large and at the same time misdirected, while being unable to support the forces presently under arms. In any case, nobody knows how many men are under arms or the cost of maintaining them, or where defense allocations go."

World View: The 1998 Strategic Assessment from the Strategic Studies Institute Dr Earl H Tilford Jr Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The following document, World View, presents the annual strategic assessments of the analysts at the Strategic Studies Institute. It is fifth in a series that reflects both our individual forecasts and collective review of the key security issues facing the United States. The process that produces World View also leads to our annual Research and Outreach Plan. The strategic context is not vastly changed for 1998. It is as complex and uncertain as it has been virtually every year since the end of the Cold War. This year, however, we are also assessing the future in the light of the Quadrennial Defense Review, published in May 1997, and the Report of the National Defense Panel, issued in December"

The United States and the Transformation of African Security: The African Crisis Response Initiative and Beyond COL Daniel W Henk, Dr Steven Metz Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Traditionally, the U.S. military has not been heavily involved in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since the end of the Cold War, though, this has begun to change. U.S. forces have supported several humanitarian relief and evacuation operations associated with African conflicts. They have also conducted numerous “engagement” activities aimed at assisting African states and their militaries during the transition to democracy. But Africa remains a region where U.S. national security interests must be promoted with limited resources. This makes a sophisticated and coherent strategy vitally important."

Problems and Solutions in Future Coalition Operations Mr Phillip Kaiser, Mr Jon Kessmeier, Mr Thomas J Marshall Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "This book reports in greater depth on four significant aspects of coalition operations: historical and cultural influences, command, technology, and doctrine and training. Steve Bowman identifies points of friction caused by historical and cultural differences among forces, and how they influence the decision to join a coalition, agreement on goals, and organization of operations, among other things. Some of the challenges are logistical problems caused by religious and cultural requirements, equipment availability, and the capability of various forces. Language and terminology differences can cause miscommunications and negatively affect operations."

Strategic Planning and the Drug Threat COL William W Mendel, COL Murl D Munger Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, The National Interagency Counterdrug Institute, The Foreign Military Studies Office "The primary purpose of this publication is to show how the principles and techniques of strategic and operational planning can be applied to the supply reduction side of our national effort to curb the trafficking of illicit drugs."

U.S. National Security: Beyond the Cold War AMB Robert Ellsworth, Dr Morton H Halperin, Dr David Jablonsky, Dr Lawrence Korb, Prof Ronald Steel Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "U.S. national security is a subject that has been under intense scrutiny since the end of the Cold War. What constitutes such security for the United States as this country approaches the new century? Are the ends, ways, and means of our national security and national military strategies sufficient to provide for the nation's future? And above all, as this country celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Security Act of 1947, are the institutions that resulted from that act still sufficient for the post-Cold War era? With these questions in mind, the Strategic Studies Institute and Dickinson College's Clarke Center co-sponsored the series of lectures on American national security after the Cold War which are contained in this volume."

Syria and the Peace: A Good Chance Missed Dr Helena Cobban Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "One of the more dismaying aspects of the current peace process has been the failure of Syria and Israel to make a deal. According to Christian Science Monitor correspondent Helena Cobban, these two long-standing foes came very close to composing their decades-old quarrel. The Syrian and Israeli leaders persevered to overcome extraordinary obstacles, but in the end failed. A terrible setback, says Cobban, because so much hard negotiating work had been done up to the very last moment when the whole carefully constructed edifice of peace drifted away."