Beyond Guns and Steel: Reviving the Nonmilitary Instruments of American Power
Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates
The secretary of defense says the U.S. must develop a cadre of deployable civilians to strengthen the Nation’s “soft” power in today’s national security environment.
U.S. Africa Command: A New Strategic Paradigm?
Sean McFate
The tenth and newest unified command, AFRICOM, stands up in October 2008. Civilian-heavy and with a security-development focus on Africa, this hybrid will not look like its brethren.
Operation Mountain Lion: CJTF-76 in Afghanistan, Spring 2006
Colonel Michael A. Coss, U.S. Army
The “clear-hold-build-engage” strategy used by Combined Joint Task Force-76 during Operation Mountain Lion (April-June 2006) could be a template for future counterinsurgency efforts.
Protection of Arts and Antiquities during Wartime: Examining the Past and Preparing for the Future
Major James B. Cogbill, U.S. Army
Well before D-Day, America planned to protect European art and cultural treasures. Failure to do the same in Iraq suggests we need a permanent DOD structure to ensure we don’t repeat our mistake.
Northern Ireland: A Balanced Approach to Amnesty, Reconciliation, and Reintegration
Major John Clark, British Army
The political, economic, and security dimensions of societal reconstruction are ineluctably symbiotic. A veteran of the Northern Ireland “troubles” analyzes how that conflict has been brought to the brink of resolution.
The Rule of Law for Commanders
Captain Christopher M. Ford, U.S. Army
Without rule of law there is no chance for civil society and little likelihood of stabilizing a conflict. Iraq is a case in point.
International Law and Slavery
Mark D. Welton, J.D.
Human trafficking remains a problem throughout the world—one that often arises in areas of armed conflict and, thus, is of concern to military professionals.
Monitoring and Evaluation of Department of Defense Humanitarian Assistance Programs
Colonel Eugene V. Bonventre, U.S. Air Force
Measures of effectiveness, normally ubiquitous throughout DOD, do not exist for monitoring and evaluating military humanitarian assistance activities. Making efforts to gauge these programs can pay dividends in stability operations.
Threat Analysis: Organized Crime and Narco-Terrorism in Northern Mexico
Gordon James Knowles, Ph.D.
Below America’s southern border, conditions are ripe for spawning potential mechanisms of terrorism directed at United States citizens. Awareness and cooperation with Mexican authorities are essential for controlling the threat.
CONTEST WINNERS
2007 MacArthur Contest 3rd Place
On Luck and Leadership
Major David Cummings, Jamaica Defence Force
How many times in our careers as professional Soldiers have we heard individual officers described as being lucky? What is this thing called luck?
2007 IO Contest 2nd Place
108 Merging Information Operations and Psychological Operations
Lieutenant Colonel Fredric W. Rohm Jr., U.S. Army, Retired
Merging the IO functional area and the Psychological Operations branch into one specialty may be cost effective. Combining resources, training, and functions can only help improve our effort in the information war.
INSIGHTS
Iraq: The Way Ahead
Mitchell M. Zais, Ph.D.
Security in Iraq has clearly improved over the last year, but the Iraqi Government has made little progress on the political end. “Soft-partitioning” seems to be the best solution to the government’s paralysis.
Redefining Insurgency
Lieutenant Colonel Chris North, U.S. Army, Retired
The current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are more complex than the word “insurgency” suggests. A new definition may be in order.
