Is the targeted killing of United States citizens legal? There are two competing models which address the legality of targeted killings: the law-enforcement model and the armed-conflict model. This paper examines arguments for and against each...
The Central Intelligence Agency is involved in a targeted killing program which the United States Government employs in its war on global terrorism. This program identifies terrorists and those facilitating terrorist activities and initiates lethal...
On 5 November 2002, an armed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operated Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) launched a lethal missile strike, killing Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a high ranking al-Qaeda member and suspected architect of the USS...
This monograph examines the implications for planning and conducting strike operations to achieve preemption of threats within the fundamentally altered post-Cold War security environment. The underlying premise is that doctrine and tactics based...
The United States Army needs doctrine that addresses strategic communication based upon emerging design concepts while incorporating existing principles of strategic communication and narrative theory together with an updated communication theory....
The question this monograph attempts to answer is whether "coercive strategies and their associated defeat mechanisms provide valid courses of action (COAs) for the US against global terrorists networks and nations that harbor terrorists?" The...
A systems perspective is beginning to permeate doctrine. This perspective calls for an analysis of the key systems of an adversary. PMESII is an acronym that stands for political, military, economic, social, infrastructure, and information systems....
As the United States (US) continues operations to neutralize terrorist activity and prepare its military for future hybrid threats, operations to target enemy leadership, in a counterinsurgency environment, have grown in complexity and importance....
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...
It is the enemy’s will to resist that is the true objective of war. Destruction of his armed forces is a means and not necessarily mandatory to achieve this objective. To save the precious resources of blood and treasure and to assure the...
The emerging operational environment of the United States military is characterized by a changing myriad of complex dimensions, the elements of which are often uncomfortably and in some cases drastically different from those encountered during the...
While all warfare is an expression of politics, none is more pervasively so than irregular conflict. The irregular side, most probably employing a mixture of guerilla tactics and terrorism, will seek favorable political effect from several courses...
Over the past decade, the United States has focused its military energy on the conduct of Stability Operations. The U.S. Department of Defense raised Stability Operations to the same level of importance as Offensive and Defensive Operations in...
The U.S. military is not currently organized to conduct effective personnel targeting operations outside of the United States. The Department of Defense needs to create an organization that can find, capture or kill designated personnel. With the...
Terrorism is not a unique phenomenon. It is merely a tactic of political violence to achieve a political end. An examination of past insurgencies reveals terrorism as a tactic to produce effects against the ruling government or the populace. ...
The 1986 edition of Field Manual (FM) 100-5, Operations, introduced a theoretical basis to AirLand Battle, the U.S. Army's basic fighting doctrine. One of the new concepts introduced into the doctrine was 'center of gravity.' The manual indicated...
The subject of cyberterrorism has become a topic of increasing importance to both the U.S. government and military. Offensive cyber capabilities provide a means to mitigate risk to U.S. systems that depend on the Internet to conduct business. In...
In January 2007, President of the United States George W. Bush announced a strategy called the New Way Forward in Iraq, a departure from the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq announced only thirteen months previous. Additionally, President Bush...
Coercion theory centers on an actor's ability to influence the decision making of an opponent. This monograph examines military operations in Libya 2011, Operations Unified Protector and Odyssey Dawn, through the lens of coercion theory. It seeks...
This paper examined how well does the integration of Military, Other Government Agencies (OGA), and International Organizations (IO) economic functions reduce the operational risks in achieving contingency campaign objectives. It investigated how...