Recent Publications

The Pivot to Asia: Can it Serve as the Foundation for American Grand Strategy in the 21st Century
August 1, 2016 — Author: Dr Douglas StuartDeciding when, where, and how to prioritize is the essence of strategy. U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to designate the Indo-Asia-Pacific (IAP) as his top regional priority made good sense, in light of the ongoing shift in economic power from West to East and the rise of China as a potential global and regional peer... MORE

Strategic Insights: The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) and Trinidad and Tobago: Establishing a Dangerous Presence in the Western Hemisphere
May 13, 2016 — Dr. José de Arimatéia da Cruz In his National Security Strategy (February 2015), President Barack Obama stated that, “the threat of catastrophic attacks against our homeland by terrorists has diminished but still persists . . . Our adversaries are not confined to a distinct country or region. Instead, they range from South Asia through the Middle... MORE

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Op-Ed: The Army Should Embrace A2/AD
July 16, 2013 — Dr. Alex CrowtherThe U.S. Army is contemplating mission sets that it will perform in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century. After 10 years of two ground wars, the Army seeks to redefine its activities. While other actors seek to relegate ground forces into irrelevance, the Army seeks to communicate why it remains necessary. At... MORE

Op-Ed: Developing A New Approach To Conventional Arms Control
April 8, 2013 — Dr. Jeffrey D. McCauslandIntroduction. Now that President Obama’s national security team has been confirmed, the administration can begin to consider its priorities and the policies for the second term. Many might suggest that one of the greatest foreign policy achievements of the President’s first term was the negotiation and eventual... MORE

Op-Ed: Heading Toward the NATO Summit
April 9, 2012 — Dr. Jeffrey D. McCausland From the perspective of the Obama administration, the last NATO Summit that was held in Lisbon in November 2010 was critically important and was described as a great success in its aftermath. President Obama arrived in office with the goal of rebuilding American alliances, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)... MORE

Conflict Management and “Whole of Government”: Useful Tools for U.S. National Security Strategy?
April 1, 2012 — Authors: Dr Robert H Dorff, Dr Volker C Franke Today, America faces security challenges that are exceedingly dynamic and complex, in part because of the ever changing mix and number of actors involved and the pace with which the strategic and operational environments change. To meet these new challenges more effectively, the Obama administration... MORE

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National Security Reform 2010: A Midterm Assessment
August 1, 2011 — Authors: Dr Joseph R Cerami, Dr Robert H Dorff, Mr Matthew Harber On April 22, 2010, the Bush School of Government and Public Service and the U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute co-sponsored a colloquium in Washington, DC, on a midterm assessment of leadership and national security reform in the Obama administration. Panelists... 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

Preparing for a Mid-Term Assessment of Leadership and National Security Reform in the Obama Administration
August 1, 2010 — Authors: Mr Jared E Bennett, Dr Joseph R Cerami, Dr Robert H Dorff Key Insights:• The initiatives for the extensive national security reform that is required to meet current threats will have to come from outside of the executive branch bureaucracy. This is true even though former senior members of the Project on National Security Reform are... MORE

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Foreign Policy Continuity: War Finds Us
March 1, 2010 — Author: Mr Lawrence Kaplan Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the March 2010 newsletter.Read Now MORE

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A Death Knell for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
February 1, 2010 — Author: Prof John R Martin Each month a member of the SSI faculty writes an editorial for our monthly newsletter. This is the Op-Ed for the February 2010 newsletter.Read Now MORE

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Challenges and Opportunities for the Obama Administration in Central Asia
June 1, 2009 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank President Obama has outlined a comprehensive strategy for the war in Afghanistan which is now the central front of our campaign against Islamic terrorism. The strategy strongly connects our prosecution of that war to our policy in Pakistan and internal developments there as a necessary condition of victory. But the... MORE