Recent Publications

The Transatlantic Security Agenda: A Conference Report and Analysis
December 1, 2001 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank Immediately after the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, NATO members unanimously voted their support for the United States under Article V of the Washington Treaty. This unprecedented action, the first time such a vote has occurred in NATO's history, underscores the vitality of the Atlantic... MORE

Chinese Information Warfare: A Phantom Menace or Emerging Threat?
November 1, 2001 — Author: Mr Toshi Yoshihara The author explores what he perceives to be China s pursuit of information warfare (IW) as a method of fighting asymmetric warfare against the United States. He believes the Chinese are seeking ways to adapt IW to their own style of warfare. Paradoxically, he observes that the Chinese have not gleaned their intelligence... MORE

Rapid Decisive Operations: An Assumptions-Based Critique
November 1, 2001 — Author: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II In support of the Joint community's efforts to develop a viable operational concept, the author argues that the Rapid Decisive Operations (RDO) concepts developers deserve high praise for attempting to link two relative properties--speed and decisiveness--but that the definition of RDO is at present incoherent and... MORE

The Costs of Conflict: The Impact on China of a Future War
October 1, 2001 — Author: Dr Andrew Scobell It is increasingly important for Americans to think carefully about the vast complexities of the U.S.-China relationship, and the calculations that go into forming courses of action. The key question is: will China s so-called first priority of economic development and its resulting influence on domestic social stability... MORE

AC/RC Integration: Today’s Success and Transformation’s Challenge
October 1, 2001 — Author: Dr Dallas D Owens Lieutenant Colonel Dallas Owens analyzes current integration programs and initiatives and evaluates them for their potential to resist transformation's possible threat to AC/RC integration. In Part I, Lieutenant Colonel Owens examines historical and current concepts of integration. He shows how programs emerged from the... MORE

Soldiers in Cities: Military Operations on Urban Terrain
October 1, 2001 — Author: Dr Michael Desch In the past half-century, the classic military conflict of armies maneuvering in the field has been replaced by conflicts that center on, rather than avoid, heavily populated areas. Modern military conflict more frequently is not just a fight to control villages or cities, but a variation on the timeless wish to control... MORE

The Hart-Rudman Commission and the Homeland Defense
September 1, 2001 — Author: Dr Ian Roxborough With the exception of attacks by ballistic missiles, the continental United States was long held to be virtually immune from attack. For Americans, wars were something that took place in other countries. In the future, that may not hold. But while strategic thinkers agree that homeland defense needs greater attention,... MORE

Internal Wars: Rethinking Problem and Response
September 1, 2001 — Author: Dr Max G Manwaring Asymmetric guerrilla war—insurgencies, internal wars, and other small-scale contingencies (SSCs)—are the most pervasive and likely type of conflict in the post-Cold War era. It is almost certain that the United States will become involved directly or indirectly in some of these conflicts. Yet, there appears to be little... MORE

Funding Defense: Challenges of Buying Military Capability in Sub-Saharan Africa
September 1, 2001 — Authors: COL Daniel W Henk, Dr Martin Revayi Rupiya Martin Rupiya, Director of the University of Zimbabwe's Centre for Defence Studies, and Daniel Henk of the Air War College provide one of the first comprehensive studies of defense budgeting practices in Africa. They assess both the problems with these practices and fruitful avenues of reform. By... MORE

Preparing for Asymmetry: As Seen Through the Lens of Joint Vision 2020
September 1, 2001 — Author: Ms Melissa Applegate Since the mid-1990s, the concept of strategic asymmetry has begun to receive serious attention from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review, for instance, stated, "U.S. dominance in the conventional military arena may encourage adversaries to use…asymmetric means to attack our forces... MORE

Toward a Strategy of Positive Ends
September 1, 2001 — Authors: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II, BG Huba Wass de Czege Brigadier General (Retired) Huba Wass de Czege and Lieutenant Colonel Antulio J. Echevarria II make a case for a strategy aimed at achieving positive, rather than neutral or negative, ends. They first discuss the dynamic conditions of the new strategic environment, then explore the options... MORE

Budget Policy and Fiscal Risk: Implications for Defense
September 1, 2001 — Author: Dr Dennis S Ippolito The defense budget remains one of the central shaping features of U.S. national security and national military strategy. To understand what is possible in terms of defense transformation, one must first have a firm grasp of the budgetary context of strategic decisions. The author shows that defense will continue to... MORE