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 investigates the actions of U.S. military personnel conducting the counter-drug mission in Bolivia in accordance with the Bolivian/U.S. Counter-Drug Strategy. The analysis determines if U.S. personnel, in executing their mission, are...
This monograph tells the narrative of the FARC in Colombia from the perspective of the counterinsurgent and presents a summary of the evolution of the FARC. The Colombian government has achieved recent success against the FARC after more than forty...
In 1969, President Nixon started the now well-known "War on Drugs." The reason behind his "declaration" of war was the increasing national security threat posed by the transnational drug trafficking organizations. With the aim of making as much...
During the Cold War, the National Guard served the nation as an insurance policy designed for mass mobilization in the event of a major war or national emergency. The nation could maintain a small but well-trained standing army and a large pool of...
Two centuries of philosophy and war have informed the latest evolution of the definitions of strategy and operational art defined in the Department of Defense's Joint Publication 1-02. By harmonizing the relationship between strategy and...
Though the US is physically located in the Western Hemisphere, for most of its history, policy toward the South American countries that share this region has taken a distant second to Euro-centric issues. One of the few areas of concern that has...
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations
The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations chose to examine the Department of Defense (the Department, DOD) foreign language program's "transformation" efforts to improve language skills, regional expertise, and cultural...
Governments attempting to counter insurgent threats often lack the authority, influence, and control to counter these threats, creating what some have described as 'ungoverned' spaces. A number of governments seek alliances with non-state armed...
Since the mid-1950s there have been attempts to create a regional military force in the English-speaking Caribbean. Although for differing reasons, these attempts have been driven by the interests of the extraregional powers, and at the times of...
Civil Information Management Systems (CIMS) are emerging as a resource which allows commanders to build a Common Operational Picture (COP) upon which to base their operational planning and execution. Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) are a type...
This thesis examines the relevance of joint intelligence preparation of the battlespace (JIPB) process, as published in Joint Publication 2-01.3, Joint Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Joint Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace, 24...
This monograph establishes criteria for targeting enemy leadership during decapitation operations. It analyzes United States operations targeting strategic individuals over the course of the Twentieth Century. This discussion creates a list of...
With the U.S. high domestic consumption of illicit drugs, a relationship has formed between transnational gangs and powerful Latin American drug cartels. The ineffectiveness of the war on drugs, along with the high cost of such a program, begs the...
The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) reached its highest point in military capabilities by 1998. In 2002, this insurgent group was a threat to the Colombian political system. The government of Alvaro Uribe designed and implemented the...
As the United States Army continues to fight the spread of radical religious terrorism and transnational actors, there has been a realization that there is a need for development of an indirect approach as a complement to major combat operations...
The recent escalation of violence between rival drug cartels, street gangs, and the government within Mexico has created a new and elevated level of concern for the population of the both the United States and Mexico. As the drug cartels continue...
This study investigates the effect of the U.S. sponsored Counter-Drug effort of the 1980s and 1990s on the bilateral relationship between the neighboring South American Republics of Ecuador and Colombia. The historical U.S.-Ecuadorian-Colombian...
Determining the causes of insurgency is important to military studies and social sciences because of the pervasiveness of insurgency and its impact on regional stability and governmental legitimacy. The moderating influences of the Cold War are...
This monograph finds that the US Army's decision making process taught in its schools and branch courses relies too heavily on an iterative analytical method called the Deliberate Decision Making Process or DDMP. Within this process there exists a...