Recent Publications

Strategic Insights: The Strategic Relevance of Latin America in the U.S. National Security Strategy
March 14, 2018 — Dr. José de Arimatéia da Cruz The much-anticipated National Security Strategy of the United States of America was released in December 2017 by President Donald J. Trump. The National Security Strategy is composed of four pillars and is applied in a regional context. How does the National Security Strategy view the Western Hemisphere? What are the... MORE

Cover for Strategic Insights: The Strategic Relevance of Latin America in the U.S. National Security Strategy

Parameters VOL. 47 NO. 4 WINTER 2017–18
March 8, 2018 — Editor: Dr Antulio J Echevarria IIFEATURES: Exploring War’s Character & Nature. "Clausewitz’s Theory of War and Victory in Contemporary Conflict" by Emile Simpson. "Will War’s Nature Change in the Seventh Military Revolution?" by F. G. Hoffman. Learning from Military Transformations. "Lessons Unlearned: Army Transformation and Low-Intensity... MORE

Cover for Parameters VOL. 47 NO. 4 WINTER 2017–18

Strategic Insights: Nuclear Posture Review: Three Reasons the Army Should Care
February 14, 2018 — Author: Dr Michael FitzsimmonsDebate over the Trump administration’s new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is now in full and predictable bloom. While many of its conclusions demonstrate continuity with the Obama administration’s modernization plans, controversy has centered on two of the review’s recommendations: to deploy new low-yield weapons on... MORE

Cover for Strategic Insights: Nuclear Posture Review: Three Reasons the Army Should Care

Avoiding the Trap: U.S. Strategy and Policy for Competing in the Asia-Pacific Beyond the Rebalance
February 6, 2018 — Editor: COL (R) Frederick J. Gellert, Dr David Lai, Prof John F TroxellView the Executive SummaryThe Trump administration has recently called for a free and open Indo-Pacific, essentially replacing the Obama-era “Rebalance.” This U.S. Army War College report provides prescient analysis and policy recommendations on how to proceed down the path to... MORE

Cover for Avoiding the Trap: U.S. Strategy and Policy for Competing in the Asia-Pacific Beyond the Rebalance

Strategic Insights: Challenges in Using Scenario Planning for Defense Strategy
January 30, 2018 — Dr. Michael FitzsimmonsLawrence Freedman and Colin Gray are two of the most famous contemporary scholars of military strategy. Within the past few years, each published a book addressing different aspects of the same practical problem of strategy: defense planning.1 Considered to be strategy’s mundane cousin, defense planning revolves around how a... MORE

Cover for Strategic Insights: Challenges in Using Scenario Planning for Defense Strategy

SSI Live 78 – The New National Defense Strategy
January 26, 2018 — The Helsinki summit meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin may be the first step in a rapprochement between the United States and Russia. If so, what are the strategic and policy implications in Europe, with specific regard to the security of U.S. allies in Eastern Europe, with regard to the conflict in Syria, vis-à-vis U.S. partners in the... MORE

SSI Live 77 – Multi-Domain Battle and the Pacific Theater
January 8, 2018 — In gross or raw potential, the United States remains the world’s leading global military power. At present though, American power is either dormant in or ill-adapted to many if not most of the world’s most important competitive spaces. American military position and influence are most immediately under duress in the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM)... MORE

Strategic Insights: Revolutionary Change Is Coming to Strategic Leadership
December 19, 2017 — Dr. Steven MetzClausewitz famously observed that war has an enduring nature and a changing character that evolves over time as technology, society, economics, and politics shift. This observation also applies to strategic leadership: it too has an enduring nature and a changing character.The enduring nature manifests itself as characteristics that... MORE

Strategic Insights: Proxy War Norms
December 18, 2017 — Dr. C. Anthony PfaffCurrent trends in international relations suggest the United States will place a greater reliance on international partners in securing vital national interests. Growing assertiveness by regional state actors, increasingly capable nonstate actors, and a “war-weary” American public suggest the emergence of a “polyarchic” world... MORE

Still Soldiers and Scholars? An Analysis of Army Officer Testing
December 15, 2017 — Authors: Dr Steven J. Condly, Dr Arthur T Coumbe, LTC William L SkimmyhornView the Executive Summary Still Soldiers and Scholars? sheds light on a neglected aspect of talent management, namely, officer accessions testing and evaluation. It does so by tracing the history of officer testing since 1900, identifying and analyzing key developments in... MORE

Parameters VOL. 47 NO. 3 Autumn 2017
November 30, 2017 — Editor: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II FEATURES: Special Commentary. Limits of Negative Peace, Faces of Positive Peace — Patricia M. Shields. A Wake for Counterinsurgency? Abandoning Counterinsurgency: Reviving Antiterrorism Strategy—Steven Metz.Insurgent Defectors in Counterinsurgencies—Jacqueline L. Hazelton. War among (& for) the People. Rethinking... MORE

2017-18 Key Strategic Issues List
November 15, 2017 — Editor: COL Todd E. Key For over a decade, the USAWC has published the annual Key Strategic Issues List (KSIL) to inform students, faculty, and external research associates of strategic topics requiring research and analysis. Part I of the Academic Year (AY) 2018 KSIL, referred to as the Chief of Staff of the Army Special Interest Topics, consists... MORE