How can the Interagency Conflict Assessment Framework (ICAF) be improved in order to better understand the operational environment? The application of the ICAF requires good intellectual habits that encompass an appreciation for abductive reasoning...
This monograph proposes that current Army doctrine provides an adequate tool to achieve the desired results proposed in the concepts of operational Design. Because Army doctrine prescribes approaches that solve problems, it is important to...
This monograph examines the reason for supervision failures in the U.S. Army. History has shown that proper supervision is important to success and that lack of proper supervision often is the cause of failure. This monograph uses examples from the...
The strategic and operational environment in which the United States military will operate in for the foreseeable future is characterized by its complexity. Historically the United States military has taken a linear approach to understanding the...
Over the years, there has been debate within the services about whether Clausewitz's theories should be used as a basis for modern warfighting doctrine. The majority of debate has focused on the specific issue of whether Clausewitz's most well...
Manual provides operational guidance for Army counterintelligence personnel and outlines standard investigative procedures for employment by counterintelligence elements and units in the United States Army in both war and peacetime.
This monograph examines the origins of the concept of conveying the intentions of the commander to subordinates from its initial appearance in Army doctrine in 1905 until the present day. While many believe they understand the genesis of this...
The problem facing practitioners of emerging Army doctrine is how to expand the use of assessments beyond detailed planning to support conceptual planning during design. This raises the question, will the use of assessments enable the commander to...
Causal claims are unavoidable in military affairs. However, causal claims are also insufficient when attempting to understand and intervene in complex environments. Hence, notions of conventional causality must be supplemented with an understanding...
History provides many examples of tension between operational and tactical commanders. Not all of these conflicts can be dismissed as matters of personality or competency. An alternative explanation is that the distinct perspectives of those...
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...
Using the scientific method, this monograph combines the concepts of surprise and information superiority to create a hypothesis that explains the principle of war. The hypothesis rests on the belief that omniscience, a state of perfect...
As the Army prepares the new FM 100-5 this monograph analyzes chapter two of the current draft, the theory of operational art. The latest draft FM 100-5 has failed to create a common understanding, and therefore cannot serve as doctrine. There are...
Using a methodology consisting of identifying the policy and associated strategy for the initial Afghanistan war period compared to the policy and associated strategy for the current Afghanistan war, the study identifies strategic composition...
Reconnaissance performance by battalion task forces rotating through the National Training Center is generally ineffective and frequently results in the task force's defeat during offensive operations. In the vast majority of battles, the decisive...
The termination theories developed since the Korean War that influenced the development of joint doctrine are confusing and contradictory. Joint doctrine therefore did not address the military's role in obtaining US national interests in the...
Military officials often utilize the PMESII-PT acronym (Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical Environment, and Time) as an analytical start point to assess an operational environment. However, the linear...
American policy in Afghanistan has evolved since the initial engagement of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It has become increasingly clear that strategic focus must include a plan to concentrate upon and continue development of a stable and secure...
Over the past ten years, addressing what Strategic Communications is has been a challenge for the military community. It is at times referred to as a process, referred to in the context of the strategic level of war, and referred to in the context...