Integrated Research Projects (IRPs)
Every academic year (AY), the Commandant of the US Army War College commissions Integrated Research Projects (IRPs) to conduct intensive study on the Army’s top priority strategic issues. An IRP research team consists of subject matter expert faculty members and select resident students who engage in strategic research and analysis on each issue. Every IRP has an external sponsoring agency or individual, often at the senior-most levels of the Army or Department of Defense, that establishes the research need and has a vested interest in resolving the issue. The IRP research teams have the opportunity to interact with these sponsors and communicate findings directly to them.
USAWC Resident Students – Contact your seminar faculty advisors if you are interested in joining an IRP team. Students receive full graduation credit for their capstone research requirement by participating in an IRP. Depending on the scope of the IRP, resident students may also earn elective credits and special designations for their transcripts. Check with the IRP faculty leads for details. Watch the video below for more information.
Sponsors – Contact SSI if you are interested in sponsoring or supporting an upcoming IRP. Click here to email us.
Generalship at the National Strategic Level
Lead: Dr. Nicholas Prime
Army Strategic Education Program
Focus: The contemporary international security environment places far more emphasis on the soldier-statesman role for the U.S. military’s most senior General and Flag officers than in past eras. How does the practice of Generalship at the national strategic-level result in strategies, policies, programs, and actions suitable for the application of military force in pursuit of a desired political outcome?
Sponsor(s): CSA
Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and the Exercise of National Power
Lead: Dr. Richard Love
Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations (DMSPO)
Focus: Exploring the role and importance of gender equality and perspectives in exercising the instruments of national power: diplomacy, information, military, and economy. With a focus on strategic-mindedness and interoperability, the IRP will examine how the application and incorporation of gender issues improves security outcomes and creates an environment for improving decision making and the development of future strategic leaders. For more information on WPS, please click here.
Sponsor(s): TBD
Strategy for National Security Emergencies
Lead: Prof. Bert Tussing
The Center for Strategic Leadership
Focus: The confluence of emerging and reemerging nation state threats, alongside foreseeable catastrophes of a national scale, compels the nation to develop a Strategy for National Security Emergencies. The US needs a framework for extant concerns over protection, prevention, mitigation, response and recovery. The study will focus especially, though not exclusively, on nation state threats which could manifest themselves in war against and within the homeland.
Sponsor(s): FEMA, USNORTHCOM, National Guard Bureau
Leading Science and Technology Development at the Strategic Level
Lead: Prof. Fred Gellert
Co-Lead: Col. Will Storms
The Center for Strategic Leadership
Focus: Developments in biological sciences, robotics, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and other areas may lead to astounding new capabilities for national defense applications. This project considers how DoD and the national defense enterprise can adapt to better leverage technology for itself and prepare for its use by adversaries.
Sponsor(s): DUSD(R&E)
The Application of Strategic Landpower by the Theater Army
Lead: Dr. Greg Cantwell
Co-Lead: Dr. GK Cunningham
The Center for Strategic Leadership
Focus: Capabilities and challenges at echelons above brigade to Theater Army in the application of strategic Landpower, with emphasis on the Theater Army’s role in Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) against a near-peer competitor. This IRP will provide the Army and Joint Community with a broadened appreciation of U.S. Army capability gaps especially at the service component level and potential solutions for consideration that may impact the Army’s ability to successfully implement the NDS.
Sponsor(s): AFC, Mission Command Capability Development Integration Directorate (MC CDID), Mission Command Battle Lab
Talent Management
Lead: Prof. Lou Yuengert
Department of Command, Leadership, and Management (DCLM)
Focus: This project continues USAWC support to the Army Talent Management Task Force’s effort to implement an information age personnel management system that is based on talent management principles (SECARMY and CSA vision). This study will include a holistic look at changes across the pillars of Acquire, Develop, Employ, and Retain, with papers and possible briefings to senior Army leadership.
Sponsor(s): Army Talent Management Task Force, ASA (M&RA)
Rethinking Competition, Deterrence, and Army Readiness
Lead: Dr. Tony Pfaff
The Strategic Studies Institute
Focus: Technology has enabled adversaries’ strategic objectives, making deterrence and winning in competition increasingly important. Yet, competition as a framework for addressing adversary provocation may be limiting and unintentionally legitimizing adversary subversive behavior. This study will examine: 1) current and future modes of competition to determine how to better anticipate competitor innovations; 2) how the Army can better contribute to national deterrent capabilities; and 3) how norms of international competition and conflict would apply below the threshold of war.
Sponsor(s): INDOPACOM J5, DA G3/5/7 (DAMO-SSP)
AY20 IRPs
Indo-Pacific Future Force Posture: Getting to 2028 and Beyond
Visit Site
Global Threat Capabilities, Signatures, and Sensors
Contact Professor Kris Wheaton to request copies: kristan.wheaton@armywarcollege.edu
Estimation of Technology Convergence by 2035
Contact Professor Kris Wheaton to request copies: kristan.wheaton@armywarcollege.edu
Talent Management
Forthcoming
Theater Army in Multi-Domain Operations
Click here for PDF
Multi-Domain Operations Library Guide
Click here for PDF
AY19 IRPs
An Army Transformed: Projecting Forward to beyond 2030 in the USPACOM AOR
Click here to download PDF
Striking the Balance: U.S. Army Force Posture in Europe, 2028
Click here to download PDF
Operational Framework to Enable Mission Command in all Domains of MDO
Click here to download PDF
AY18 IRPs
Recommendations for Success in Afghanistan
Click here for PDF
Friendly Force Dilemmas in Europe: Challenges Within and Among Intergovernmental Organizations and the Implications for the U.S. Army
Click here for PDF
Working Smarter: Considerations for the Army Installations of the Future
Click here to download PDF
AY17 IRPs
Stabilization: A New Approach to Whole of Government Operational Planning and Execution
Click here for PDF
Avoiding the Trap: U.S. Strategy and Policy for Competing in the Asia-Pacific Beyond the Rebalance
Click here for PDF
Rotational Deployments vs. Forward Stationing: How Can the Army Achieve Assurance and Deterrence Efficiently and Effectively?
Click here for PDF
Building Partner Capacity in Africa: Keys to Success
Click here for PDF
The Army’s Ability to Fight a Great Power War
Watch on YouTube
Closer Than You Think: The Implications of the Third Offset Strategy for the U.S. Army
Click here for PDF
At Our Own Peril: DoD Risk Assessment in a Post-Primacy World
Click here for PDF
Elihu Root Study: The Total Army
Click here for PDF
AY16 IRPs
U.S.-China Competition: Asia-Pacific Land Force Implications
Click here for PDF
Outplayed: Regaining Strategic Initiative in the Gray Zone
Click here for PDF
WATCH: US Army War College Students Discuss Their Experiences Working on IRPs
READ: SecArmy examines the Army’s commitment to Joint Force readiness with USAWC Students
Then SecArmy Mark Esper discussed IRP results on future force posture with US Army War College students in 2019.
For more information about any of the current IRP efforts listed above, please contact the faulty lead.
For questions about the IRP program at USAWC, contact the Director, Strategic Research and Analysis Department of SSI, COL George Shatzer, at: george.shatzer@armywarcollege.edu.