This monograph determined that the tactical and strategic experience of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) since 1981 was relevant to the future operational environment of the U.S. Army. The IDF’s experiences are relevant because the Israeli Army...
In 1979 the age old struggle for the control of Islam between the Shiite and Sunni sects re-emerged in the Middle East. Four events occurred in 1979 that defined the context of contemporary Middle Eastern politics: the Islamic revolution in Iran,...
It is not known against whom or where the United States Army will fight next, nor is it clear what the nature of that conflict will be. What is relatively certain is that the United States Army will likely initially get it wrong, regardless of its...
The United States is a nation at war. It will be a long war. The terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 were the catalyst that brought the US to this war: the Global War on Terrorism. However, US and coalition responses to Islamic extremism since...
Since 11 September 2001, Americans have asked why America is hated by Arab Muslims. Analysts have offered a variety of explanations but few have identified the basis for this growing anti-American sentiment throughout the Arab Muslim world. This...
These proceedings are the third volume to be published in a series generated by the annual military history symposium sponsored by the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). This year's symposium, hosted by the Combat Studies Institute,...
The Army's Operational Concept emphasizes that Army forces must be prepared to conduct a combination of offensive, defensive, and stability or civil support operations to create opportunities and achieve desired results. The 2010 Quadrennial...
The current French doctrine envisions two overarching operational modes, the coercion mode and violence-mastering mode. The concept of violence mastering has been developed to deal with the post-Cold War environment.
There is no shortage of people who disagree with the current state of world affairs and who are prepared to use violence to change them. Are they mindless fanatics, doomed to fail? Or do they have a clever and covert plan with reasonable chance of...
Recently the Economist magazine referred to the Arab-Israeli conflicts as "The Hundred Years' War" in its coverage of the Israeli Defense Forces' assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip during Operation CAST LEAD. Comparing this seemingly intractable...
Recently the Economist magazine referred to the Arab-Israeli conflicts as "The Hundred Years' War" in its coverage of the Israeli Defense Forces' assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip during Operation CAST LEAD. Comparing this seemingly intractable...
Since its establishment as a state Israel's geo-political circumstance demands that the small nation state adapt to an ever changing threat environment. Israeli defense policy traditionally consisted of deterrence through a dominant military...
My primary research question is: can social networks assist analysts fight terrorism? My secondary research questions are as follows. First, how does social networking create linkages? Second, how have social networks been used to solve small...
Suicide terrorism is re-emerging as the dominant tactic in asymmetric warfare. Al Qaeda in association with affiliates in the greater Salafi-jihadi movement conduct suicide terror or martyrdom campaigns against strategic and operational targets....
Third place winner of the MacArthur Military Leadership Writing Competition for the CGSC class of 2006-001. This paper explores the ramifications of insurgency waged via strategic information warfare, especially focusing on its implications for...
US Army doctrine demands leader initiative, defined as taking action to best accomplish a mission without waiting for new orders or supervision. This thesis explores how well the US Army develops junior officer initiative. A review of historical,...
The purpose of this monograph is to analyze the Heavy Brigade Combat Team's (HBCT) engineer force structure to answer the question: Does the HBCT have the necessary embedded engineer capabilities to conduct full spectrum operations, rapidly...
Many Americans associate the fall of Rome with Alaric and the Visigoths and other warrior peoples from the north, but serious students understand that Rome’s decline was slow and from within. Ralph Peters writes, “In its confident years, the...
When intervening forces create a safe and secure environment to implement a whole of government approach, they simultaneously create opportunities for hitherto unnoticed and powerless opponents to do the same--and sometimes more successfully. This...
The monograph analyses the origins of the use of violence in the name of religion by the Salafist movement in Europe in order to enable identification of key characteristics to shape national strategies of prevention that are appropriate for...