Colombia's future hangs in the balance with dire implications for Latin America and U.S. national interests. After almost forty-five years of existential conflict, Colombia has the opportunity to be a peaceful and stable country, which is essential...
Since Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared war on the drug cartels in December 2006, more than 35,000 Mexicans have died due to narco-violence. This monograph examines whether the various Mexican drug trafficking organizations are insurgents...
Colombia is on the verge of collapse because of the instability generated by leftist guerrilla groups, drug traffickers, and right-wing paramilitaries against the Colombian government and its ability to provide security for the people of the state....
Airpower is an asymmetric means for the application of government counterinsurgent force against enemies of the state. The high cost of investment in aircraft and the high technology training of maintainers and aircrew make a viable air force a...
The United States declared drugs to be a clear and present danger to the country and proceeded to wage a war on them that was both justified and temporarily successful from 1970 through 1990. Although not prepared for this mission at first, the...
Deteriorating nation states are a significant threat to U.S. and Western interests. Ineffective nation states frequently generate economic, social and humanitarian crises for their ungoverned populations, imperil the security of neighboring...
As the year 2000 begins, the disintegration of Colombia in a situation of violence, political unrest, and economic upheaval is a very real threat to the national interests of the United States. It is critical that Washington’s concern for failed...
This monograph examines the US military involvement in the "drug war" since l989, as well as some of the issues that the military officer may have to deal with while conducting counterdrug operations in Peru. In 1989, the Secretary of Defense...
Colombia remains one of the most troubled countries in South America. The continued export of drugs coupled with a significant insurgent threat and increased violence against civilians, signals a crisis capable of disrupting the entire region....
This study assesses the Colombian opium and heroin production threat to the U.S. since it was first perceived in about l990. It compares and contrasts the production of heroin to that of cocaine, including the cultivation, processing and...
Erupting without warning in June 1950, the war in Korea pitted the United States, with its armed forces at minimum strength riding out the uneasy peace following World War II, almost overnight in combat against a well-trained and well-equipped foe...
The terrorist groups in Colombia have applied Mao’s theory of protracted people’s war, seeking to use all available means of struggle to achieve their revolutionary goals by counteracting government policy. One way that Fuerzas Armadas...
This monograph analyzes the possibility of the United States Military taking a direct role in the implementation of Plan Colombia. The analysis begins with an exploration of the background issues: the drug war as it relates to Colombia, the...
Recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have given the US military an appreciation of both the importance and the challenges of working with and through host nation security forces in the aftermath of major combat operations. Secretary of Defense...
This report is part of the Subsistence Study undertaken by the Office of Supply. It reviews the functions concerned with the coffee roasting, grinding, and packaging operations of the military departments, the financing, procurement and storage of...
Drug Trafficking Organizations within Mexico have become a challenge to the state and are affecting both Mexican and U.S. citizens within the U.S. and Mexico border region. As the situation continues to spiral out of control, the U.S. military,...
The United States military has conducted counterinsurgency campaigns against violent Islamic extremists for the last eight years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. However, communication-minded, technology-savvy, insurgencies...
With the exception of Cuba, US-Latin American relations do not have the specter of Communist influence in the hemisphere distorting the thrust of foreign policy. What does remain is the threat of crises that endangers the viability of the fledgling...