Past Publications

Senior Conference 50, The Army We Need: The Role of Landpower in an Uncertain Strategic Environment Major Charlie D Lewis, COL Jeffrey D Peterson, Dr Rachel M Sondheimer Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "The United States Military Academy (USMA) Senior Conference is run annually by the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy on behalf of the Superintendent. This event allows distinguished representatives from the private sector, government, academia, the think-tank community, and the joint military services to discuss important national security topics. Senior Conference 2014, the 50th iteration of this event, explored emerging trends and their implications for the Army’s strategic contribution to national security. As policymakers strive to rebalance U.S. national security investments in a fiscally constrained environment, debates about the future roles and missions of the armed services have intensified. Though many questions related to the future role of military power remain unsettled, the Army will undoubtedly have an important role to play."

Assessing Egyptian Public Support for Security Crackdowns in the Sinai Mr Gregory Aftandilian Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Mr. Gregory Aftandilian examines Egypt’s public support for the Egyptian government’s security crackdowns in the Sinai where terrorist groups have undertaken violent attacks against security forces and foreign tourists and have even taken their fight to the Egyptian mainland. Although the leadership of these terrorist groups appear to be from mainland Egypt (those living along the Nile River and in the Nile Delta region), much of the rank and file appear to be disaffected Bedouin youth in the Sinai who have become susceptible to the entreaties of the terrorists..."

Lying to Ourselves: Dishonesty in the Army Profession Dr Wong Leonard, Dr Gerras Stephen Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "While it has been fairly well established that the Army is quick to pass down requirements to individuals and units regardless of their ability to actually comply with the totality of the requirements, there has been very little discussion about how the Army culture has accommodated the deluge of demands on the force. This study found that many Army officers, after repeated exposure to the overwhelming demands and the associated need to put their honor on the line to verify compliance, have become ethically numb. As a result, an officer’s signature and word have become tools to maneuver through the Army bureaucracy rather than being symbols of integrity and honesty. Sadly, much of the deception that occurs in the profession of arms is encouraged and sanctioned by the military institution as subordinates are forced to prioritize which requirements will actually be done to standard and which will only be reported as done to standard. As a result, untruthfulness is surprisingly common in the U.S. military even though members of the profession are loath to admit it. "

Always Strategic: Jointly Essential Landpower Dr Colin S Gray Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "American Landpower is a strategic instrument of state policy and needs to be considered as such. The purpose of this monograph is to explore and explain the nature of Landpower, both in general terms and also with particular regard to the American case. Five themes drive through this work. Specifically, it is argued that: (1) Landpower is unique in the character of the quality it brings to the American joint team for national security; (2) the United States has a permanent need for the human quality in Landpower that this element provides inherently; (3) Landpower is always and indeed necessarily strategic in its meaning and implications—it is a quintessentially strategic instrument of state policy and politics; (4) strategic Landpower is unavoidably and beneficially joint in its functioning, and this simply is so much the contemporary character of American strategic Landpower that we should consider jointness integral to its permanent nature; and, (5) notwithstanding the nuclear context since 1945, Landpower retained, indeed retains, most of the strategic utility it has possessed through all of history: this is a prudent judgment resting empirically on the evidence of 70 years’ experience. "

Breaking the Nordic Defense Deadlock Dr Stefan Forss, COL Pekka Holopainen Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Events in Ukraine in early-2014 have prompted a re-evaluation of national defense capabilities across Europe. In the case of the Nordic states (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland), this renewed attention has highlighted the lack of military resources to fulfill nationally stated defense tasks. Two decades of underinvestment in defense, force reductions, and focus on expeditionary crisis management in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), have combined to hollow out the once fundamental principles of territorial defense. Northern Europe has been left dangerously exposed to military coercion in a time of greatly increased uncertainty."

Strategic Insights: The China-CELAC Summit: Opening a New Phase in China-Latin America-U.S. Relations? R. Evan Ellis Article by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Since the People’s Republic of China (PRC) began to open its economy in 1978, its relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean has passed through four phases. Prior to its 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), it conducted limited engagements through principally diplomatic and cultural vehicles aimed at building relationships and winning diplomatic recognition among countries of the region."

Strategic Insights: A New Year's Resolution For Army Leaders William G. Braun III Article by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "Americans love winners and deplore losers. The U.S. military’s greatest challenge to proving its relevance stems from a general perception that it cannot deliver results when confronted by the nation’s most pressing foreign policy problems. Barry Posen advocates that the United States abandon the post-Cold War strategy of engagement altogether, stating the: 'undisciplined, expensive, and bloody strategy [of American activism] has done untold harm to U.S. national security. It makes enemies almost as fast as it slays them, discourages allies from paying for their own defense, and convinces powerful states to band together and oppose Washington's plans, further raising the costs of carrying out its foreign policy' ..."

Strategic Insights: Brazil's Election 2014:Continuity or Change for the "Sleeping Giant"? José de Arimatéia da Cruz Article by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "On October 26, 2014, Brazilians went to the polls to elect a new president in one of the closest and most highly contested election in Brazil’s contemporary history since the military returned to their barracks in the early-1990s. The final results showed President Dilma Rousseff winning re-election with 51.6 percent in a runoff against her opponent, Aécio Neves, who received 48.4 percent. The choice for president could not have been more distinct between two diametrically opposite candidates; Rousseff, running for re-election as the candidate of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Worker’s Party or PT), and her opponent, former Governor and current Minas Gerais Senator, Neves, the candidate of the opposition Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (Brazilian Social Democracy Party or PSDB)."

Getting to the Left of SHARP: Lessons Learned from West Point's Efforts to Combat Sexual Harassment and Assault LTG Robert L Caslen Jr, LTC Daniel Gade, COL Cindy R Jebb, Cadet Hope C Landsem Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press "The U.S. Army has been and is struggling with sexual harassment, assault, and rape in its ranks, but the future can be different. In this monograph, three seasoned officers and one cadet propose a series of steps—based on West Point’s experiences—to “get to the left” of these incidents by changing the cultural structures that allow them to occur. This will only become more critical as the Army works on the policies that will fully integrate women into the combat arms, introducing women to sub-cultures that have, for years, equated martial virtues with masculine ones. "