Recent Publications

Cartel Car Bombings in Mexico
August 16, 2013 — Authors: Dr Robert J Bunker, Mr John P Sullivan View the Executive SummaryContemporary Mexican cartel use of car bombs began in mid-July 2010 and has since escalated. Given the proximity to the United States, some literally within miles of the border, the car bombings, with about 20 incidents identified over the last 2 1/2 years, should be of... MORE

Colloquium Brief: Learning By Doing: The PLA Trains at Home and Abroad
May 15, 2012 — Recent People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy exercises and operations, such as the Gulf of Aden (GOA) anti-piracy deployment, point to an increasing interest in developing a presence in distant seas and expeditionary naval capabilities. The PLA’s ground force exercises, rather than aiming to intimidate others by demonstrating the ability to project power beyond China’s borders, are most relevant to operations within mainland China; transmilitary region exercises contribute to China's deterrence posture by demonstrating a proven ability to project power to repel an attack while People's Armed Police (PAP) exercises and operations reveal increased capabilities to counter terrorism and control civil unrest... MORE

Army Strong–Really?
April 1, 2011 — Author: COL Charles D Allen The author outlines the past, present, and future of the Profession of Arms.It would be easy to discount the conjecture that the U.S. Army is in trouble. After all, we are unmatched as a fighting force and were successful in conducting military operations for regime change in two countries in the space of 18 months. Our... MORE

Civilian Skills for African Military Officers to Resolve the Infrastructure, Economic Development, and Stability Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa
March 1, 2011 — Author: Ms Diane E Chido For decades, a lack of economic opportunity has caused instability and violence in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fortunately, U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) is in a unique position to increase stability and reduce the causes of violence and extremism through new partnerships and military-to-military training. The current training... MORE

Training for the “Political” War
March 1, 2009 — 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 March 2009 newsletter.Read Now MORE

The “People” in the PLA: Recruitment, Training, and Education in China’s 80-Year-Old Military
November 1, 2007 — Author: Mr Justin B Liang, Dr Sarah K Snyder Three conclusions were reached: (1) China’s ideal “new type” of military officer is university educated and possesses the technical competence and physical ability to handle actual combat against a modern, high-tech adversary. (2) Driven by the understanding of the critical and integral role of soldiers... MORE

Negotiation in the New Strategic Environment: Lessons from Iraq
August 1, 2007 — Author: Mr David M Tressler In stability, security, transition, and reconstruction (SSTR) operations like the U.S. mission in Iraq, negotiation is a common activity. The success or failure of the thousands of negotiations taking place daily between U.S. military officers and local civilian and military leaders in Iraq affects tactical and... MORE

China’s Nuclear Forces: Operations, Training, Doctrine, Command, Control and Campaign Planning
May 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Larry M Wortzel Recent books and journal articles published in China provide new insights into nuclear doctrine, operations, training, and the employment of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) strategic rocket forces. The major insights come from exploiting sections of a doctrinal text published for PLA institutions of higher military... MORE

Coup D’Oeil: Strategic Intuition in Army Planning
November 1, 2005 — Author: Dr William Duggan Dr. William Duggan shows how to reconcile analytical and intuitive methods of decisionmaking, by drawing on recent scientific research that brings the two together. He applies this new research to the Army's core methods of analytical decisionmaking as found in FM 5-0, Army Planning and Orders Production. The result is... MORE