Recent Publications

COIN of the Realm: U.S. Counterinsurgency Strategy
January 1, 2008 — Authors: Dr Steven Metz, Mr Ralph Wipfli Participants at the seminar developed these key insights: Regardless of whether counterinsurgency (COIN) will be the dominant form of military activity in the future or simply one of several, the United States needs an effective national strategy which explains when, why, and how the nation should undertake... MORE

Learning from Iraq: Counterinsurgency in American Strategy
January 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Steven Metz While the involvement of the United States in counterinsurgency has a long history, it had faded in importance in the years following the end of the Cold War. When American forces first confronted it in Iraq, they were not fully prepared. Since then, the U.S. military and other government agencies have expended much effort to... MORE

Strategic Challenges for Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terrorism
September 1, 2006 — Author: Dr Williamson Murray In March 2006, President George W. Bush signed a new National Security Strategy that he refers to as a “wartime national security strategy” and states that to follow the path the United States has chosen, we must “maintain and expand our national strength.” One way to do this is to study and propose solutions to the... 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

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

Going to War With the Allies You Have: Allies, Counterinsurgency, and the War on Terrorism
November 1, 2005 — Author: Dr Daniel Byman Washington must recognize that its allies, including those in the security forces, are often the source of counterinsurgency problems as well as the heart of any solution. The author argues that the ally's structural problems and distinct interests have daunting implications for successful U.S. counterinsurgency efforts. The... MORE

U.S. Defense Strategy After Saddam
July 1, 2005 — Author: Dr Michael E O'Hanlon In this defense strategy and budget book, Michael O'Hanlon argues that America's large defense budget cannot be pared realistically in the years ahead. But given the extreme demands of the Iraq mission, particularly on the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, he suggests how reductions in various weapons modernization programs... MORE

Pseudo Operations and Counterinsurgency: Lessons from Other Countries
June 1, 2005 — Author: Dr Lawrence E Cline The author examines the role of pseudo operations in several foreign counterinsurgency campaigns. Pseudo operations are those in which government forces disguised as guerrillas, normally along with guerrilla defectors, operate as teams to infiltrate insurgent areas. This technique has been used by the security forces of... MORE

Insurgency in Nepal
December 1, 2003 — Author: Dr Thomas A Marks Insurgencies in the 21st century are different than the Cold War era ones that generated existing doctrine and strategy, and which shaped the way that most American strategists think about insurgency. The beast has mutated and evolved. So, too, must those who confront it. To help Army and Department of Defense leaders... MORE

Maintaining Effective Deterrence
August 1, 2003 — Author: Dr Colin S Gray While deterrence is as old as human conflict itself, it became particularly important with the advent of nuclear weapons when armed conflict between the superpowers had the potential to end civilization. Today there is a sense that terrorism has rendered deterrence obsolete and forced the United States to substitute... MORE

Counterinsurgency: Strategy and the Phoenix of American Capability
February 1, 1995 — Author: Dr Steven Metz Dr. Steven Metz argues that the way the Department of Defense and U.S. military spend the time when counterinsurgency support is not an important part of American national security strategy determines how quickly and easily they react when policymakers commit the nation to such activity. If analysis and debate continues, at... MORE