Recent Publications

The Paracel Islands and U.S. Interests and Approaches in the South China Sea
June 1, 2014 — Author: LTC Clarence J Bouchat (USAF, Ret) View the Executive SummaryThe Paracel Islands and South China Sea disputes require better understanding by U.S. policymakers in order to address the region’s challenges. To attain that needed understanding, legal aspects of customary and modern laws are explored in this monograph to analyze the differences... MORE

Dangerous Ground: The Spratly Islands and U.S. Interests and Approaches
December 27, 2013 — Author: LTC Clarence J Bouchat (USAF, Ret) View the Executive SummaryThe Spratly Islands warrant better understanding by U.S. policymakers in order to discuss nuanced responses to the region’s challenges. To attain that needed understanding, legal aspects of customary and modern laws are explored to analyze the differences between competing... MORE

Russian Interests in Sub-Saharan Africa
July 12, 2013 — Author: Mr Keir Giles View the Executive SummaryAn apparent lack of interest by Russia in Sub-Saharan Africa over recent years masks persistent key strategic drivers for Moscow to re-establish lost influence in the region. A preoccupation with more immediate foreign policy concerns has temporarily interrupted a process of Russia reclaiming... MORE

Avoiding the Slippery Slope: Conducting Effective Interventions
June 4, 2013 — Author: Dr Thomas R Mockaitis View the Executive SummaryThis Letort Paper covers U.S. military interventions in civil conflicts since the end of the Cold War. It defines intervention as the use of military force to achieve a specific objective (i.e., deliver humanitarian aid, support revolutionaries or insurgents, protect a threatened population,... MORE

Colloquium Brief: Kingston Conference on International Security (KCIS-2012): International Security in an Age of Austerity
March 4, 2013 — Mr. Dru LauzonA Partnership Between Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, Centre for International and Defence Policy, Queen's University, Chair of Defence Management Studies, Queen's University, and Land Force Doctrine and Training System of the Canadian ForcesKey Insights. While the threat of another... MORE

Nuclear Heuristics: Selected Writings of Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter
January 1, 2009 — Author: Mr Henry D Sokolski, Mr Robert Zarate Pioneers of nuclear-age policy analysis, Albert Wohlstetter (1913-1997) and Roberta Wohlstetter (1912-2007) emerged as two of America's most consequential, innovative and controversial strategists. Through the clarity of their thinking, the rigor of their research, and the persistence of their... MORE

U.S. Foreign Policy and Regime Instability
May 1, 2008 — Author: Dr James Meernik The United States utilizes a vast arsenal of foreign policy tools to induce, compel, and deter changes in other nations’ foreign policies. Traditionally, U.S. foreign policy research focuses on the degree of success the U.S. Government has achieved when seeking specific objectives such as improvements in human rights... MORE

Drug Intoxicated Irregular Fighters: Complications, Dangers, and Responses
March 1, 2008 — Author: Dr Paul Rexton Kan The presence of drugged fighters is not unknown in the history of warfare. Yet widespread drug use on the battlefield is now part of protracted conflicts largely fought by nonprofessional combatants that take place in an international system characterized by the process of globalization. From marijuana, khat,... MORE

The Interagency and Counterinsurgency Warfare: Aligning and Integrating Military and Civilian Roles in Stability, Security, Transition, and Reconstruction Operations
December 1, 2007 — Author: Mr Jay W Boggs, Dr Joseph R Cerami For decades since the formation of the defense establishment under the 1947 National Security Act, all U.S. cabinet departments, national security agencies, and military services involved in providing for the common defense have struggled to overcome differences in policy and strategy formulation,... MORE

Turkmenistan and Central Asia after Niyazov
September 1, 2007 — Author: Dr Stephen J Blank President Sapirmurat Niyazov, the all-powerful leader of Turkmenistan, suddenly died on December 21, 2006. Because Central Asia is a cockpit of great power rivalry and a potential theater in the Global War on Terrorism, no sooner had Niyazov died than the great powers were all in Turkmenistan seeking to influence its... MORE

Roots of Terror
May 1, 2007 — Author: Ms Corinna Johnson Many of the traditional processes used to identify and prosecute terrorists operate at a pace too slow to keep up with terrorists’ ability to change and reorganize. Terrorists have adopted structurally independent modes of organization in diverse environments; counterterrorism policies must adopt methods to track... MORE

2006 Key Strategic Issues List (KSIL)
July 1, 2006 — Author: Dr Antulio J Echevarria II In today’s dynamic strategic environment, political changes can become challenges very quickly. Any list of key strategic issues must, therefore, include the broadest array of regional and functional concerns. This is a catalogue of significant issues, arranged as potential research topics, of concern to U.S... MORE