Army War College - SSI News

Can AI Pass the US Army War College?

Pentagon News — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:47:30 GMT

The US Army War College oral comprehensive examination serves as the institution’s capstone, measuring its senior officers’ strategic thinking. In early 2026, three faculty panels applied that standard to four leading commercial artificial intelligence (AI) systems: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok. Prompted without core curriculum materials, all four models passed. Unlike static benchmarks, the examination’s impromptu dialogue format revealed meaningful performance differences that were invisible in general-purpose evaluations, with one model performing at a statistically significant advantage. These findings challenge how the Department of War assesses commercial AI for strategic applications and point toward domain-specific, dialogue-based benchmarking as a more rigorous standard.

Fighting for Intelligence in Large-Scale Combat Operations: The Role of the Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion–Next

Pentagon News — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 15:16:00 GMT

This article contends the US Army’s proposed intelligence and electronic warfare battalion–next concept constitutes an organizational solution essential for achieving intelligence dominance in large-scale combat operations. Transcending legacy formations that are predicated on specific intelligence disciplines, this innovative design furnishes a functionally oriented, modular, and layered architecture that affords the requisite analytic capabilities, agility, and endurance for the contemporary battlefield. The analysis incorporates lessons extracted from the Russia-Ukraine War, US Army experimental endeavors, assessments of peer threats, and doctrinal evolutions, thereby providing readers of US Army War College Press publications with vital insights into how the Army is adapting to the future of warfare.

A Human-Centric Framework: Employment Principles for Lethal Autonomous Weapons

Pentagon News — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 17:24:00 GMT

As lethal autonomous weapon systems become a battlefield reality, the Department of War must establish unambiguous employment criteria to allow war fighters to use these controversial systems ethically and responsibly. The updated policy should shift the conversation from the weapon system to humans by defining pre-deployment judgment and emphasizing accountability.

A Long, Hard Year: Russia-Ukraine War Lessons Learned 2023

Pentagon News — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 17:21:00 GMT

As the Russia-Ukraine War passed the two-year mark, the conflict ground to an entrenched, apparent stalemate. Nevertheless, the conflict, with a blend of conventional warfare and innovative technology, offers new lessons to the US Joint Force about the changing character of war. From fires to airpower to intelligence, this review of 17 different aspects of the conflict offers insights to prepare leaders for tomorrow’s war.

The 2024 Carlisle Conference on the PLA: Protracted War Against the PRC

Pentagon News — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 16:17:00 GMT

The US Army War College’s 2024 Carlisle Conference on the People’s Liberation Army was held on October 16 and 17 at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. The conference brought together experts to discuss the People’s Republic of China’s understanding of and capability to carry out a protracted war in the Indo-Pacific, with this volume comprising papers authored by panelists.

Parameters | Winter 2025–26

Pentagon News — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:05:00 GMT

Welcome to the Winter 2025–26 issue of Parameters, which consists of an In Focus special commentary, two forums (Indo-Pacific Deterrence and Considerations for Modern Warfare), and the new Strategic Competition Corner.

Parameters | Autumn 2025

Pentagon News — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 17:57:00 GMT

Welcome to the Autumn 2025 issue of Parameters. We open with two In Focus commentaries. The first, “A Case for Military Proportionality: Disabling Nuclear Plants” by Henry Sokolski, offers practical ways in which military planners can disable civilian targets, such as nuclear infrastructure, without undermining operational goals, alliance cohesion, or long-term political objectives. Our second commentary, “The Consequences of Declining Patriotism in the United States” by Neil N. Snyder, presents findings from a national survey showing a decline in patriotism, especially among Generation Z nonveterans. His article highlights a growing civil-military values gap with implications for recruitment and national cohesion.

Loyal Paraguay: The Peña Government’s Strategic Choice to Stay with Taiwan

Dr. R. Evan Ellis — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 19:13:00 GMT

From August 11-15, 2025, the author was in Asuncion, Paraguay, in an International Republican

From the Last Frontier to the Final Frontier: The Polar Regions and Space Security

Dr. Michael Lynch — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 17:19:00 GMT

This article examines the intersection of Arctic geopolitics and space security amid intensifying

The Economic Argument for Keeping US Forces in Europe

Dr. John R. Deni — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 16:33:00 GMT

NATO’s Hague summit earlier this summer has generally been viewed as a qualified success, despite —

Understanding, Deterring, and Preparing for a Great-Power War in the Twenty-First Century

Pentagon News — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 14:34:00 GMT

This integrated research project highlights gaps in the US Army’s understanding of, and preparations for, a great-power war in the twenty-first century. The project employs historical analysis to enhance Army leaders’ understanding of great-power wars, provides novel ways to improve US strategies for deterring a great-power war, and explores ways the United States can better prepare for a great-power war.

More Than a Numbers Game: Comparing US and Chinese Landpower in the Pacific Requires Context

Pentagon News — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 16:00:00 GMT

As the US Army organizes, trains, and equips for an unforeseen future, service decisions should create or amplify relative operational advantages over the US military’s rising foe—the People’s Liberation Army. Discerning critical differences between American and Chinese land forces is a prerequisite for such efforts.

Weaponizing Risk: Recalibrating Western Deterrence

Pentagon News — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 14:51:00 GMT

Can NATO increase the risks and costs of war for an adversary without unduly raising the alliance’s own? Can the alliance strengthen the credibility of NATO’s extended deterrence through a proxy strategy of “waging war without going to war”?

Integrating Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Technologies into Common Operating Picture and Course of Action Development

Pentagon News — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 15:42:00 GMT

Explore artificial intelligence’s potential for military planning! This study examines how artificial intelligence and machine learning can enhance the US Army’s common operational picture and course of action development. Learn how advanced technologies streamline decision making, improve situational awareness, and tackle resource challenges for the modern battlefield.

Academic Year 2025–26 Annual Estimate of the Strategic Security Environment

Pentagon News — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 15:02:00 GMT

The United States faces a complex and ever-changing global environment. The Annual Estimate of the Strategic Security Environment is designed to guide the collective defense community to research and write about critical national security challenges to help the Army prepare for a wide range of potential conflicts and threats.

Parameters | Summer 2025

Pentagon News — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 16:37:00 GMT

Welcome to the Summer 2025 issue of Parameters. This issue consists of an In Focus special commentary, three forums (Indo-Pacific Challenges, Russia-Ukraine Issues, and Historical Studies).

Thompson’s Rifle Battalion: The Original Unit of the Army of the United Colonies (Now the United States Regular Army)

John A. Bonin — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 17:13:00 GMT

Why is 1775 depicted on the official flag of the US Army? Why did Congress form the Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion as the first non-militia unit in the army of the United Colonies? Who was the battalion’s commander, William Thompson? What happened to Thompson and his rifle battalion during the rest of the American Revolution?

Parameters | Spring 2025

Pentagon News — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 17:04:00 GMT

Welcome to the Spring 2025 issue of Parameters. This issue consists of an In Focus special commentary, three forums (Russia, Ukraine, and NATO; Strategic Competition and Managing National Security; and Joint Sustainment Strategies), the regular Civil-Military Relations Corner installment, and a review essay.

North Korea in Ukraine: Analyzing Authoritarian Cooperation

Jake Rinaldi — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 13:17:00 GMT

The deployment of North Korean forces to Ukraine marks a critical inflection point in global security dynamics, challenging long-held assumptions about the limits of cooperation between authoritarian states. This development, unprecedented in its implications, reveals even absent formal alliances or ideological cohesion, the strategic realignment among authoritarian states has the potential to reshape the global order and future conflicts.

Toward a More Effective DoD Contribution to Strategic Competition in the Western Hemisphere

R. Evan Ellis — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 20:17:00 GMT

Innovative new thinking is needed on the security challenges the People’s Republic of China poses in Latin America and the Department of Defense’s role in the US response, including (1) enhanced security cooperation that helps key democratic partners succeed and provides the United States leverage and situational awareness, and (2) anticipating how the People’s Republic of China may exploit its commercial and other activities in the region in times of war.