Since the seventeenth century, Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion have had tremendous impact on the Western world’s mind-sets for understanding nature as predictable and orderly. Consequently, Western strategic culture has been based on a linear...
American's find the Bosnian Serb practice of "ethnic cleansing" morally unconscionable. As United Nations peacekeeping efforts have proved unable to halt the ethnic violence, the U.S. public has increasingly looked to its military for a solution....
Muslim immigrants in the United States share the same characteristics as any other immigrant group coming to America looking for a chance at prosperity. Immigrants form close communities, maintain many of their customs and cultural ties to their...
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...
No one can predict the future but you must prepare for it. The standing joint task force (SJTF) headquarters concept in the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) was an attempt to prepare for the future by establishing permanent SJTF headquarters...
This study examines the potential for changing the force-structure of the U.S. Army from a forward-deployed model with units permanently stationed overseas to an expeditionary model. The expeditionary model would station all units within the...
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate over the past twenty years has been phenomenal and if continued even at a slightly slower pace, could exceed the GDP of the United States (US) by 2020. It is highly conceivable that China might...
Prior to President Obama halting all ongoing military commissions, the United States charged six Guantanamo Bay prisoners with capital crimes. Further, his latest policy directive for new military commission rules has not excluded the death penalty...
In response to lessons learned, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) launched a comprehensive program, in 2009, to make all Airmen cross-culturally competent (3C). As part of this program, the USAF has included cultural training in all levels of professional...
In the aftermath of World War II, the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, so loathed yet respected the Great German General Staff that he called for its complete destruction on at least two separate occasions. Regardless of...
On 1 September, 1993, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell announced the results of the Clinton Administration's Bottom-up Review (BUR), to determine America's future defense needs. This...
Learning Counterinsurgency: Observations from Soldering in Iraq Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus, U.S. Army The Army has gained a great deal of experience in Iraq and Afghanistan about COIN operations. Here, one of the Army's most experienced...
In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the intelligence community saw a dark shadow cast across itself. Though the specific intelligence failures cannot yet be determined, there are some known pieces of information. The success of intelligence...
This study is an historical analysis of the military reform efforts of the United States Army and Marine Corps in Cuba and Nicaragua, respectively. The study sets these cases in the political context of United States foreign policy and the...
Iraq may well be on a course to becoming the next Iran ' an Islamic republic that tramples on individual liberties in the name of religion. Arguably, the propensity of the predominately Shia country is to develop a government more concerned with...
The information revolution causes dramatic changes in the geopolitical environment, which result in new challenges to U.S. national security, particularly from a new form of global insurgency. The continued development and proliferation of...
The genesis for the publication of The Cheyenne Wars Atlas goes back to June 1992. It was then that the Combat Studies Institute (CSI) conducted the first Sioux Wars Staff Ride for Brigadier General William M. Steele, Deputy Commandant of the US...
The end of the Cold War did not bring about the grand peace that was hoped for during four decades. Instead, the world has become more dangerous, with multiple complex problems. Military institutions worldwide must learn to adapt to the...
The current National Security Strategy is supposed to be the means by which the Nation expresses its fundamental national security goals, identifies national interests, and matches these interests with the necessary tools to implement the strategy...
Propaganda and disinformation characterized indispensable components of nineteenth and twentieth century warfare. Examples such as Leni Riefenstahl's “Triumph of the Will” or Frank Capra’s “Why We Fight” series made no attempt to honestly...