The recognition of the failure at the strategic and operational levels of war during the Global War on Terror, specifically in Iraq, has resulted in a quest for intellectual solutions to complex operational and strategic problems. To date this has...
The transition is one of the most important, but most overlooked, parts of any campaign. The United States concluded Operation New Dawn in December 2011. The U.S. is also converging towards Operation Enduring Freedom's conclusion in 2014. In both...
Operational level commanders and their staffs require relevant and current joint doctrine that articulates the critical function of operational design and its role in the Joint Operation Planning Process (JOPP). Since operational design is the...
This work proposes a novel approach to military transformation, 'Adaptive Transformation,' that accounts for an inescapable reality in the current and future operational environment: uncertainty. Military planners and decision makers have to face...
A review of Army leadership doctrine exposes a disconnect. Army doctrine states that development of the “warrior spirit” in soldiers, leaders, and organizations is vital to the Army's success. However, the Army does not have a uniform...
Hybrid threat actors seek to master unrestricted operational art in order to reconcile overmatch and protect or advance their interests. As interest-based rational actors, hybrid threats translate strategic intent into unrestricted distributed...
Operational design is an intellectual exercise that draws on the creative vision, experience, intuition, and judgment of commanders to provide a framework for development of detailed operation plans. Recently, a number of authors have questioned...
The Infantry Squad: Decisive Force Now and in the Future. Major General Robert B. Brown, U.S. Army; The U.S. Army dismounted infantry maneuver squad is today's most decisive force on the battlefield, yet it lacks access to capabilities it needs...
Unleashing design: planning and the art of battle command. BRIG GEN (P) Edward C. Cardon, U.S. Army, and LT COL Steve Leonard, U.S. Army;With the publication of the most recent edition of Field Manual (FM) 5-0, The Operations Process, our doctrine...
This research explores how the peaking of world oil production influences the global balance of power. On the one hand, the geological phenomenon of peaking, modeled by the Hubbert's peak curve, gives the timeframe and the evolution of oil...
After World War Two the United States moved into a position of global pre-eminence. The Bush doctrine of pre-emptive and preventive action, expressed in the 2002 and 2006 National Security Strategies, holds that this level of relative power...
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...
Planning is an important part of a comprehensive approach to national preparedness. After the September 11 attack on America, President George W. Bush directed the creation of a standardized federal approach to preparedness planning. Congress...
Recent years have seen the US, UK and other ISAF and Coalition nations enmeshed in protracted, complex and intense campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Resilient and highly adaptable opponents have operated asymmetrically, and amongst the people, to...
History shows that the U.S. Army can fight and defeat its opponents using centralized command concepts, but the challenges of the contemporary operating environment place a premium on the abilities of subordinate commanders to act independently and...
This monograph began as an investigation to determine if either Effects-Based Operations (EBO) or Systemic Operational Design (SOD) should replace the traditional Military Decision-Making Process (MDMP). It soon became clear that the approaches do...
This monograph considers whether operational art and the operational level of conflict are viable constructs for Canada or other middle-powers. Like most of America's close allies, Canada quickly followed the US lead by adopting these operational...
In 2010, at a conference held by the Cornwallis Group, an international organization interested in peace operations and whole-of-government approaches, Dr. Cynthia Irmer, Senior Conflict Prevention Officer for the Department of State Office of the...
Transitions in post-conflict environments from the means of violence to representative compromise are extraordinarily complex and fraught with risk. They require significant vision, planning, and detailed interaction among a wide variety of...
The purpose of Airspace Command and Control (AC2) is to maximize the efficiency of all airspace users conducting simultaneous combat operations in support of the commander's intent. Effective AC2 requires successful identification, coordination,...