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 study provides the analysis and research necessary to identify and recommend ways to support reservists' civilian employers. Employers are not able to support sustained reservist absences that are now more frequent and for longer periods of...
This monograph examines the question of whether the United States Air Force (USAF) is too reliant upon technological asymmetry. It examines four possible paths to over-reliance and then surveys Air Force doctrine and air power theory. The study...
This monograph proposes an answer to the question: Can the current tactical mission risk analysis process adequately support the doctrine tenet of versatility? The conclusion is that true versatility in unfamiliar operations may require a more...
This monograph explores the US Army's position on the twentieth century warfare phenomena of armor versus antiarmor. From WWII through the end of the Cold War, debate over the degree to which antiarmor organization have been necessary to conduct...
The purpose of this monograph is to investigate the nature of militant Islam in the context of a global ideological threat; to further examine the strategic concepts associated with the theory of containment developed to win the Cold War; and...
This paper examines the effects of sleep loss on the combat effectiveness of the US Army’s leaders and soldiers. It begins with an examination of US and Soviet doctrine for conducting continuous operations. This section discusses the doctrinal...
As a result of technological maturation, Congressional mandate, and battlefield use, the U.S. Army is currently involved in a tremendous amount of activity surrounding the development of unmanned systems (UMS). While current systems require near...
While the nature of war does not change, the conduct and methods available to wage and win wars does. This appears to be the case with respect to hybrid war, an evolving type of war that the United States may soon face. The definition of hybrid war...
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...
The United States has been home to several influential military theorists who changed how the United States and other countries protect national interests, train, equip, and fight wars. Among these theorists are A.T. Mahan, Billy Mitchell, and more...
A study of General Walton H. Walker's career offers a lens through which to view the evolution of Army training doctrine, revealing its strengths and weaknesses over a period of nearly four decades. However, an understanding of the skills necessary...
"Presidential Study Directive on Mass Atrocities/PSD-10" and the 2010 National Security Strategy elevated mass atrocities to a core national security interest. This study argues that PSD-10 will be implemented in a world where international borders...
The United States is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and has considered the Alliance an integral component of U.S. defense strategy for over sixty years. At the height of the Cold War, a third of the entire U.S....
"Nodes and Codes" explores the reality of cyber warfare through the story of Stuxnet, a string of weaponized code that reached through a domain previously associated with information operations to bring about the physical, and potentially lethal,...
The U.S. Army is smaller today than at any time since before World War Two. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Army is reducing significantly not only its size but also its forward presence, preferring instead to rely more on power...
Fighting identity: why we are losing our wars. Michael Vlahos; Our enemies understand that "it is in the living of war's mythic passage" that identity will be truly realized. We, for our part, blunder blindly on, fitting ourselves to their...
Refighting the Last War: Afghanistan and the Vietnam Template. Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris Mason, America lost in Vietnam because of a failure to establish legitimacy and the inability to protect the people from insurgents. The same failures...