The last 10 years of conflict have seen a dramatic increase of airspace users above the battlefield providing both opportunities and challenges to maneuver commanders. Assets operating overhead assist the commander in mission command; however, the...
The preponderance of literature and scholarly debate on counterinsurgency (COIN) focuses on the strategic or operational approach: leader-focused; large group-focused; special operations; conventional operations; enemy centric; and the latest,...
The increasing volume and manner of violent deaths in Mexico nearly doubled in 2009 to just over seven thousand. Mexico appears capable of devolving into a failed state status where an insurgency threat could potentially thrive. These indices...
Like the post-9/11 Bush administration, the Obama administration must confront numerous security threats to U.S. national interests at home and abroad. The Obama administration, however, has the added challenge of a severe domestic economic...
Is there a gender component in toxic leadership? Existing conceptions of toxic leadership fail to account for gender. The real world significance of these conceptions is that female leaders labeled with the pejorative of being toxic leaders suffer...
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...
There is a common view within the United States Army that Information Operations is a military doctrine designed to win a "battle of ideas" within human populations. This monograph refutes this understanding of Information Operations by tracing the...
State formation aims to achieve a legitimate monopoly on the use of violence and a legitimate government as perceived by its population. Governments have two principle mechanisms, force and consent, to create the conditions within which it can...
When are a nation’s security forces deemed self-reliant? Security force assistance (SFA) is one process of building or rebuilding a nation’s security forces. If the ultimate goal of SFA is producing a self-reliant force capable of responding to...
Today's operational environment consists of uncertainty, chance, friction, and complexity. Change and adaptation that once required years to implement must now be recognized, communicated, and enacted far more quickly. To effectively respond to the...
At the core of U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine is the concept of “hearts and minds.” Although the concept has significantly deviated from its historical grounding and has become a nebulous concept that is frequently maligned, misunderstood, and...
An increasing number of schools are not releasing ASVAB scores to military recruiters. In 2004, 3.8 percent of test scores were not released, compared to 13.91 percent in 2011. The decision to release scores is made by school officials. Policies...
While Algeria was facing internal security issues with illegal Islamist armed groups in the 1990s, some Sahelian-Saharan states were reducing their institutional presence in their border region with Algeria. Mali was demilitarizing its northern...
In this author's opinion, the United States Army is not doing enough to prepare combat organizations for the inevitability of casualties. This thesis proposes the following primary research question: How can United States Army combat organizations...
The Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P) indirect approach to irregular warfare (IW) offers senior U.S. policy makers and military commanders a suitable model worthy of consideration for conducting long-term military operations...
Since the events of September 11, 2001 the United States military counternetwork operations, theory, and doctrine have failed to account for the form, function, and logic of clandestine cellular networks used by both interstate insurgencies, such...
Most of those who comment on Iran's attempt to influence Iraqi Shia, do so without considering the historical and cultural connection between these two peoples. The research presented directs its attention to the Iranian motives and capabilities...
In complex operational environments marked by uncertainty, lethal threats, and long term commitments, the Army's junior officers shoulder a burden that requires critical thinking and a willingness to exercise initiative and make decisions. In light...
This monograph examines whether or not the current U.S. Army Operational Design methodology could increase the effectiveness of airpower. Analysis of existing design literature provides a common understanding of the U.S. Army’s design methodology...