Living Perilously in a Bubble Dr Leonard Wong Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "For the past decade, we have become accustomed to hearing the sound of bursting bubbles. During the late 1990s, it was the giddy days of the dotcom bubble. Internet-based companies gained rock star popularity as stock prices soared, venture capital flowed freely, and traditional blue-chip companies scurried to mimic the dotcoms who gained success by bypassing standard business models."

PLA Missions Beyond Taiwan Mr Marc Miller Colloquium Brief by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, The National Bureau of Asian Research, and The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A & M University "The PLA is being assigned and training for an increasing variety of missions, including nontraditional battlefields such as outer space and cyber space, as well as nontraditional functions, such as United Nations peacekeeping operations."

Dueling Natures Dr Antulio J Echevarria II Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Election cycles make for interesting times. For one thing, they prompt debates among defense analysts and other experts over current programs, the balance (or lack thereof) among ends, ways, and means, as well as examinations of some of the basic assumptions underpinning our theories and concepts of war. One debate in particular—that regarding the nature of war—is worth reviewing because its implications are far-reaching."

Stability Operations and State Building: Continuities and Contingencies COL Greg Kaufmann Colloquium Report by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, Austin Peay State University "Basic to the concept of the colloquium was the idea that just as there are acknowledged principles of war that enhance the possibility of victory on the battlefield, there should be principles that, if applied during the state-building process, will enhance the chances of “winning the peace.” The idea that principles should comprise the foundation of state-building and that supporting policies and procedures then flow from those principles was fundamental to the colloquium’s process."

Leadership and National Security Reform: The Next President's Agenda Dr Joseph R Cerami, Dr Robert H Dorff, Ms Lisa Moorman Colloquium Report by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, with The Bush School of Government and Public Service and the European Union Center of Excellence of Texas A&M University, LBJ School of the University of Texas at Austin "This colloquium examined the contemporary international environment and American national security policy for the next presidential administration. Participants examined how threats, policies, and strategies have changed since 2001 and how the U.S., European, and other international security systems have responded to changing requirements."

The View from There Dr Sherifa D Zuhur Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "A new U.S. President faces huge challenges in the Middle East. Unfortunately, he will not begin with a clean slate. Instead, some uncomfortable fabric has already been cut to fit various policy situations, and a deft tailor is needed to reconsider, redesign, and refit this ghastly, bulky, and multilayered garment we call a Middle East “policy” with an ear to objections from within the region. Granted, U.S. policy goals differ from those of Middle Eastern nation-states and national entities, like the Palestinians, who have not yet achieved their own states."

The 2006 Lebanon Campaign and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy Dr Stephen D Biddle, Mr Jeffrey A Friedman Monograph by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The future of nonstate military actors is a central issue for U.S. strategy and defense planning. It is widely believed that such combatants will be increasingly common opponents for the U.S. military, and many now advocate sweeping change in U.S. military posture to prepare for this—the debate over the associated agenda for “low-tech” or irregular warfare transformation is quickly becoming one of the central issues for U.S. defense policy and strategy. As a prominent recent example of a nonstate actor fighting a Westernized state, Hezbollah’s 2006 campaign thus offers a window into a kind of warfare that is increasingly central to the defense debate in the United States. And the case’s implications for U.S. policy have already become highly controversial. "

Real Change or Retrenchment? Dr Douglas V Johnson II Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "It is frequently asserted in our 0930 daily kaffe klatsch that as soon as the insurgency phenomenon in Iraq and Afghanistan is suppressed, the Army reflexively will return to its fixation on the kinetic approach to major combat. It is also popular to hold up the post-Vietnam era as a demonstration of that phenomenon with occasional references to similar reactions following the suppression of the Philippine Insurrection. These facile analyses are adduced to support the American Army’s distaste for counterinsurgency work."

The "People" in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China's Military Mr. Roy Kamphausen, Dr Andrew Scobell, Mr. Travis Tanner Book by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute