Recent Publications

U.S. Military Operations in Iraq: Planning, Combat and Occupation
April 1, 2006 — Authors: Mr Shane Lauth, Ms Kate Phillips, Ms Erin Schenck, Dr W Andrew Terrill A colloquium on "U.S. Military Operations in Iraq: Planning, Combat, and Occupation" was held November 2, 2005, and was co-sponsored by SSI and Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Three years beyond the start of that transition, the debate... MORE

Counterterrorism in African Failed States: Challenges and Potential Solutions
April 1, 2006 — Author: COL Thomas A Dempsey Terrorist groups operating in Sub-Saharan Africa failed states have demonstrated the ability to avoid the scrutiny of Western counterterrorism officials, while supporting and facilitating terrorist attacks on the United States and its partners. The potential acquisition of nuclear weapons by terrorists makes terrorist... MORE

Preventive War and Its Alternatives: The Lessons of History
April 1, 2006 — Author: Dr Dan Reiter The 2002 National Security Strategy suggested preventive attacks, diplomacy, deterrence, and other policies as means of curtailing threats presented by the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons to terrorists and rogue states. The author analyzes which mix of these policies might best and most cost... MORE

The Proliferation Security Initiative as a New Paradigm for Peace and Security
April 1, 2006 — Author: Dr Mark R Shulman The author examines the Proliferation Security Initiative—a multinational activity launched in 2003 to enable the United States and like-minded countries to interdict the flow of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This Initiative also may bring dramatic changes the international security system by enabling concerned states... MORE

Iron Troikas: The New Threat from the East
March 28, 2006 — Author: Dr Richard J Krickus There has been widespread discussion of Russia's efforts to exploit its energy assets to influence developments in Ukraine; specifically, to put pressure on the leaders of the Orange Revolution who have adopted a Western orientation, rather than one toward the East—Russia. The author explains how the Russian leadership... MORE

The Return of the Latin American Left
March 1, 2006 — Author: Dr Alex Crowther Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the March 2006 newsletter.Read Now MORE

Planning For and Applying Military Force: An Examination of Terms
March 1, 2006 — Author: LTG Paul K Van Riper The author briefly examines current and in some cases still evolving definitions in joint doctrine--especially as regards strategy, center of gravity, decisive point, and commander's intent. He discusses the heritage of those concepts and terms, most of which derived from the writings of Clausewitz and Sun Tzu, and... MORE

The Challenge of Governance and Security
March 1, 2006 — Author: Dr Max G Manwaring The Latin American and Caribbean Center of Florida International University, the U.S. Southern Command, and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College held the ninth in a series of major annual conferences dealing with security and defense matters in the Western Hemisphere on February 1-3, 2006, in... MORE

Kim Jong Il and North Korea: The Leader and the System
March 1, 2006 — Author: Dr Andrew Scobell In the first decade of the 21st century, few national security challenges facing the United States is as vexing as that posed by North Korea. It is a paradox because it appears to be a very powerful state—possessing the world's fourth largest armed forces, a sizeable arsenal of ballistic missiles, and a worrying nuclear... MORE

CU @ The FOB: How the Forward Operating Base is Changing the Life of Combat Soldiers
March 1, 2006 — Authors: Dr Stephen J Gerras, Dr Leonard Wong The situation in post-war Iraq is producing combat veterans accustomed to a perspective of combat that differs greatly from past wars. The Forward Operating Base (FOB) has become the mainstay of the U.S. presence in Iraq. The authors explore the facets of fighting from the FOB. Their research shows that... MORE

Multilateral Constraints on the Use of Force: A Reassessment
March 1, 2006 — Author: Dr Seyom Brown The difficulty of achieving a multilateral consensus in the NATO Alliance can create more of a crisis than does the difficulty of generating an effective UN response to threats to international peace and security. NATO was supposed to be America's prime multilateral institution for obtaining legitimation and support of... MORE

Training Indigenous Forces in Counterinsurgency: A Tale of Two Insurgencies
March 1, 2006 — Author: Dr James S Corum The author examines the British experience in building and training indigenous police and military forces during the Malaya and Cyprus insurgencies. These two insurgencies provide a dramatic contrast to the issue of training local security forces. In Malaya, the British developed a very successful strategy for training the... MORE