United States national interests in Indonesia have traditionally being based on strategic security requirements given Indonesia’s geographic location between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and strong anti-communist stance during the Cold War....
When the Republic of Indonesia declared itself independent from the Netherlands on 17 August 1945, the Dutch leaders did not accept this and tried to restore colonial authority. This led to a four-year conflict between the Netherlands and the...
Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, the United States has embarked upon many military operations that were not bound by the traditional framework of revolution or insurgency. States formerly held together by the political logic and financial...
This study researched the possible roles and missions conducted by the United States Special Operation Aviation (SOA) community, particularly rotary-wing, fix-wing, unmanned aerial vehicles’ roles, as well as SOA’s role in Foreign Internal...
This thesis investigates the future role of the ABRI (Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia or Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia) in the post-Suharto era. It examines the factors which influence the sociopolitical role of the ABRI and...
Islamic Terrorism in Southeast Asia constitutes the second front in the Global War on Terrorism. Jemaah Islamiyah and Abu Sayyaf, transnational terrorist organizations with ties to Al Qaeda, have frustrated U.S. efforts to eradicate terrorism and...
The Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most important waterways. Piracy, terrorism, and instability within the region have prompted representatives of global commerce to consider this strait dangerous to shipping. Any major...
The United States Navy has always considered combating piracy a mission and responsibility under international law and tradition. Recently, the importance of this mission has increased markedly. There are two reasons for this. First, the increase...
From late 1962 through mid-1966, President Sukarno of Indonesia sought to gain control of East Malaysia, the northern portion of the island of Borneo, by a combination of political and military means. This process was called Confrontation. His...
Threats to security within the Asia-Pacific region continue to evolve. Traditional and non-traditional threats to state sovereignty and individuals exist across the region. Despite most recent security challenges being transnational, the dominant...
On 10 -11 September 2003, the Center for the Study of Intelligence hosted a conference in Charlottesville, Virginia, to discuss the subject “Intelligence for a New Era in American Foreign Policy.” One of the recommendations from that...
For many years, the U.S. military presence in Southeast Asia (SEA) has served as an important stabilizing factor in region and has allow countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to sustain high economic growth, and develop...
With the recent claimed phased withdrawal of the Vietnamese occupation forces from Cambodia in September 1989, it may appear that ASEAN has at last attained what it had sought for at the UN for the last decade since the Vietnamese invasion in...
At the commencement of the twenty-first century Australia finds itself questioning the employment of its military and once again seeking to define its role in an environment characterized by threats from nonstate actors and the advent of successive...
America's strategy to combat terrorism, resulting from Al-Qaeda's 2001 attacks, falls short of its intent to defeat transnational terrorism. While the tenets of the current counterterrorism strategy were written broadly to enable global employment,...
The end of the Cold War shifted the United States’ strategic focus from a clearly identified, monolithic national security threat to a less well-defined focus on international engagement. The resultant strategy was an attempt to maintain security...
Transnational terrorism has recently emerged as a serious security threat in Southeast Asia. This thesis examines the conditions, causes, and nature of the transnational terrorist threat in the region. It analyses the historical, political,...
The United Nations (UN) intervention in Timor-Leste in 1999-2005 has been critically acclaimed as a “model” peacekeeping operation. By temporarily assuming sovereign powers on behalf of Timor-Leste, the UN Transitional Authority in East Timor...
This research explores the ambivalence that surrounds Singapore's post-independence defense policy. On the one hand, Singapore's defense policy has complemented the nation's overall development with its robust efficacy and fiscal efficiency....