Recent Publications

Predictions, Observations, and the Free Lunch
January 1, 2011 — Author: COL Louis H Jordan Jr Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the January 2011 newsletter.Read Now MORE

The Conflicts in Yemen and U.S. National Security
January 1, 2011 — Author: Dr W Andrew Terrill Yemen is not currently a failed state, but it is experiencing huge political and economic problems that can have a direct impact on U.S. interests in the region. It has a rapidly expanding population with a resource base that is limited and already leaves much of the current population in poverty. The government obtains... MORE

Cover for Extremist Migration: A Foreign Jihadist Fighter Threat Assessment

Nuclear Power’s Global Expansion: Weighing Its Costs and Risks
December 1, 2010 — Author: Mr Henry D Sokolski When security and arms control analysts list what has helped keep nuclear weapons technologies from spreading, energy economics is rarely, if ever, mentioned. Yet, large civilian nuclear energy programs can—and have—brought states quite a way towards developing nuclear weapons; and it has been market economics, more than... MORE

Cover for Nuclear Power's Global Expansion: Weighing Its Costs and Risks

Strangely Silent: The Missing Strategic Debate in the 2010 Mid-Term Elections
December 1, 2010 — Author: Dr Robert H Dorff Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the December 2010 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Cover for Strangely Silent: The Missing Strategic Debate in the 2010 Mid-Term Elections

Russia’s Prospects in Asia
December 1, 2010 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank These three chapters originated in an SSI conference in January 2010 and go to the heart of a question of vital significance for both Asia and Russia, namely what are Russia’s prospects in Asia. The three chapters outline the challenges Russia faces in Asia, the nature of the dynamic and complex Asian security... MORE

La Familia Drug Cartel: Implications for U.S.-Mexican Security
December 1, 2010 — Author: Dr George W Grayson La Familia Michoacana burst onto the national stage on September 6, 2006, when ruffians crashed into the seedy Sol y Sombra nightclub in Uruapan, Michoacán, and fired shots into the air. They screamed at the revelers to lie down, ripped open a plastic bag, and lobbed five human heads onto the beer-stained black and white... MORE

Cover for La Familia Drug Cartel: Implications for U.S.-Mexican Security

A Risk-Based Approach to Strategic Balance
December 1, 2010 — Author: COL John A Mauk The United States requires a national security strategy and a force posture that reflect the nation’s economic and emotional capacity to implement the strategy. Recently published strategic concepts fail to accommodate these requirements. Current Secretary of Defense guidance to the Services is to develop a strategically... MORE

Deciding to Buy: Civil-Military Relations and Major Weapons Programs
November 1, 2010 — Author: Mr Quentin E Hodgson The development and procurement of major weapons programs in the United States is a complex and often drawn-out process complicated by political considerations and often sharp disagreements over requirements and the merits of systems. Secretaries of Defense since Robert McNamara have sought to impose discipline on the... MORE

Cover for Deciding to Buy: Civil-Military Relations and Major Weapons Programs

America’s Most Committed Muslim Ally
November 1, 2010 — Author: Dr W Andrew Terrill Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the November 2010 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Cover for America's Most Committed Muslim Ally

Preventing Yemen from Becoming Fallujah
November 1, 2010 — Dr. W. Andrew Terrill In the rapidly mutating world of international terrorist organizations, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has become one of the most serious threats facing the United States. The recent AQAP attempt to use parcel bombs against U.S.-bound aircraft is only the most recent manifestation of this problem. The Christmas... MORE

Response to “America’s Flawed Afghanistan Strategy”
October 14, 2010 — MAJ Peter A. Dvorscak Update: Steve Metz responds.Dr. Metz discusses many aspects of the Global War on Terror in his August 2010 SSI Newsletter Op-Ed, but intertwines subjects, such as the Taliban and al Qaeda, without putting the subjects in the proper perspective.He wrote, “Both the Bush and Obama strategies assume al Qaeda needs state support or... MORE

Final Response to “America’s Flawed Afghanistan Strategy”
October 14, 2010 — Dr. Steven Metz MAJ Dvorscak's thoughtful letter makes a number of important and powerful points. In some cases, I suspect that I simply expressed my idea poorly or was limited by time constraints in the extent to which I could explain them. On others, though, we'll agree to disagree.MAJ Dvorscak is exactly right that al Qaeda and the Taliban have... MORE