Digital Commons Network^™

Risk Representations And Confrontational Actions In The Arctic, Sybille Reinke De Buitrago

Journal of Strategic Security

The Arctic is undergoing rapid changes and gaining geopolitical attention. The effects of climate change in the region lead to both potential and hopes for new resources, new or shorter transit routes, and other opportunities. Most Arctic coastal states have come forward with interest articulations. Some coastal states also see their national security and sovereignty at risk. While the region has seen a significant level of cooperation in some areas in the past, current developments seem to motivate both stronger risk representations and confrontational actions. Among the coastal states, particularly Canada, the United States, and Russia express increasing points of …

Assessing The Prevalence Of Middle Eastern Extreme Ideologies Among Some Iranians, Yusef Karimi, Alexandra Cimbura, Wagdy Loza

Journal of Strategic Security

This article investigates the prevalence of the extreme Middle Eastern ideologies among Iranians. Using the Assessment and Treatment of Radicalization Scale (ATRS) on a sample of Iranian participants, the authors collected from 138 Iranian Muslims. The authors compared this data with data previously collected from other parts of the world that included Atheists, Christians, and Muslims. The ATRS is a scale for measuring quantitatively Middle Eastern extremist ideologies on risk areas as reported in the literature. Similar, to previous results, the current results indicated that Iranian Muslims scored significantly higher than the sampled Christians and Atheists. However, the score of …

The First Conspiracy The Secret Plot To Kill George Washington. By Brad Meltzer And Josh Mensch, New York, N.Y.: Flatiron Books, 2019., Millard E. Moon Ed.D., Colonel (Ret.)

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Violent Extremist Organizations: Past Trends And Short-Term Forecast, Brigit Davis

Journal of Strategic Security

Violent extremist organizations (VEOs) are the focus of an extensive amount of research by academic and government entities, some of whom have devised complex forecasting methodologies. This study takes a step back from these methodologies and provides one that uses simple mathematical computations (that is, percentages and modes) while still providing slightly more granularity than currently available forecasts. By using data from the University of Maryland Global Terrorism Database and the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium, this study identifies trends related to the number of emerging VEOs, ideology types, locations of emergence/operation, attack types, target types, and disbandment. These trends …

Dawn Of The Code War: America’S Battle Against Russia, China, And The Rising Global Cyber Threat. By John P. Carlin, With Garrett M. Graff. New York: Hatchett Book Group, 2018., Edwin E. Urie

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Two Armies: Balancing America’S Landpower For Competition And National Security, Mike Anderson

Journal of Strategic Security

Abstract:

The United States ground forces face divergent array of threats from a return of great power competitors and from a continuance of irregular non-state opponents and stability operations, leading the Army and Marine Corps to struggle with capability focuses. American ground forces historically swing from preparing their forces for one spectrum of conflict to the other based on immediate and perceived threats. The pendulum swing creates uncertainty and capability gaps, requiring sharp shifts when unanticipated, immediate threat emerge. A hybrid force model creates two distinct army groups within the larger Army force – allowing one to focus on conventional …

Understanding Cyber Warfare: Politics, Policy And Strategy By Christopher Whyte And Brian Mazanec. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017., Mark T. Peters Ii

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

The Alphabet Bomber A Lone Wolf Terrorist Ahead Of His Time, By Jeffrey D. Simon, Phd., Lincoln, Ne: University Of Nebraska Press, Imprint: Potomac Books, 2019., Millard E. Moon Ed.D., Colonel (Ret.)

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Behind The Scenes Of Al-Qa`Ida’S Media Strategy, Agnes Hankiss Dr

Journal of Strategic Security

Jihadi terrorist organizations view their media opportunities as weapons in their war against the West. While there is a considerable body of work discussing the content and form of Al-Qa'ida's media, including both their written press and video products, we have significantly less information on what goes on behind the scenes: how the tactical elements and strategic goals are designed and implemented to generate these products. The paper asserts that while we still have insufficient information on the media strategies of the Islamic State, due to the ideological, operational and network-to-network continuity between the two organizations, the documents shedding a …

Landing On The Edge Of Eternity: Twenty-Four Hours At Omaha Beach. By Robert Kershaw. New York And London: Pegasus Books Ltd., 2018., Edward J. Hagerty

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

The Global Positioning System And Military Jamming: The Geographies Of Electronic Warfare, Tegg Westbrook

Journal of Strategic Security

GPS supports infrastructure assets that are essential to the functioning of national and international banking operations, power grid, transportation, and communication systems, therefore its reliability and accuracy is critical. GPS boosts productivity around the world and has radically changed military operations. Despite the importance of GPS, the relative weakness of GPS signals are vulnerable to interference. This weakness provides a range of opportunities for criminals, terrorists and state actors using GPS jamming devices. Different types of jammers can cause varying degrees of interference, but the use of powerful military jammers are becoming more prevalent. This article provides an overview of …

Russian Influence In Latin America: A Response To Nato, Mason Shuya

Journal of Strategic Security

Since facing international backlash from the West over the situation in Ukraine, Russia has had to focus on new international agreements. In retaliation for NATO expansion towards the east, Russia has sought to create these agreements in Latin America. Russia has specifically sought greater ties with Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico. Currently, these countries maintain close economic ties with the United States. However, new military agreements are giving Russia greater military access to the region and access to locations that would facilitate greater ease in conducting military and espionage operations against the United States.

India’S Maritime Diplomacy In South West Indian Ocean: Evaluating Strategic Partnerships, Chinmoyee Das

Journal of Strategic Security

Being a maritime nation with considerable economic and military power, India has shown keen interest in demonstrating its role as a major security provider in the IOR. In the Southwest Indian Ocean too, India has sought to develop a security presence and strengthen its position by capitalising on its historic ties with the littoral nations of the region through provision of military training, defence equipment and security advisors. India’s efforts are mostly directed at making the Indian influence more visible in the strategic affairs of the region that seem to be clouded by the increasing Chinese forays into the region. …

Nato Under Pressure, Lyubomir Monov

Journal of Strategic Security

This article examines some of the formidable challenges and concerns of North Atlantic Treaty Organization that could influence its unity and integrity. A combination of issues that encompass military problems, internal political glitches and critical rhetoric from the President of the United States may undermine NATO’ s capacity to act in the best interest of its members. Now even more than ever before, this causes uncertainty about the future of the Alliance. Therefore, this paper opens a discussion about possible scenarios for NATO’s disintegration and how this might affect some of the smallest member states, namely, Bulgaria. Admittedly, the security …

Islam And Sectarian Violence In Pakistan: The Terror Within. By Eamon Murphy. New York, N.Y: Routledge, 2019., Mark Roberts

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Conflict And The Need For A Theory Of Proxy Warfare, Amos C. Fox

Journal of Strategic Security

Modern conflict is dominated by proxy wars but the United States military fails to account for this type of environment. Instead, it speaks euphemistically by using phrases like, By, With, and Through to articulate the complexities of proxy environments. In doing so, it falls short in understanding the dynamics at work between actors in a proxy relationship, which has resulted in it doing poorly in modern proxy wars. Therefore, the United States military should embrace proxy warfare from a theoretical standpoint and develop a resultant proxy warfare doctrine. Proxy environments - dominated by principal-agent problems, the oppression of time, and …

Halting Boko Haram / Islamic State's West Africa Province Propaganda In Cyberspace With Cybersecurity Technologies, Sunday O. Ogunlana

Journal of Strategic Security

Terrorists use cyberspace and social media technology to create fear and spread violent ideologies, which pose a significant threat to public security. Researchers have documented the importance of the application of law and regulation in dealing with the criminal activities in cyberspace. Using routine activity theory, this article assessed the effectiveness of technological approaches to mitigating the expansion and organization of terrorism in cyberspace. Data collection included open-source documents, government threat assessments, legislation, policy papers, and peer-reviewed academic literature and semistructured interviews with fifteen security experts in Nigeria. The key findings were that the new generation of terrorists who are …

The Changing Dynamics Of Twenty-First-Century Space Power, James Clay Moltz

Journal of Strategic Security

Many recent assessments of space power have posited a US decline and predicted a gloomy future in comparison to China and Russia. However, such analyses—based almost exclusively on state-run activities—present only part of the picture. In the twenty-first century, a new form of bottom-up, net-centric, commercially led space innovation is emerging that promises cheaper and more timely technological developments to those nations that can effectively tap into them, thus reshaping traditional definitions of space power. This study first sets a baseline by focusing on Cold War space power determinants, next analyzes recent changes among the three leading spacefaring nations, and …

Spy Schools: How The Cia, Fbi, And Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America’S Universities. By Daniel Golden. Ny: Henry Holt And Company, 2017., Ed J. Hagerty

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Shifting Policies In Conflict Arenas: A Cosine Similarity And Text Mining Analysis Of Turkey’S Syria Policy, 2012-2016, Brendon J. Cannon, Mikiyasu Nakayama, Daisuke Sasaki, Ash Rossiter

Journal of Strategic Security

Turkish policy towards the Syrian civil war, as operationalized in relation to the implementation of no-fly zones, safe zones or buffer zones, has been the subject of much debate among scholars. As the number of foreign states acting in Syria has steadily increased since the onset of the crisis, Turkish policies have similarly shifted. In order to make sense of Turkey’s actions and reactions in the first five years of the Syrian civil war, this article attempts to draw lessons from quantitative methods and methodologies such as text mining, cosine similarity and cosine normalization of content from the Anadolu Agency …

Secret Operations Of World War Ii. By Alexander Stillwell. London, United Kingdom: Amber Books Ltd, 2018., Millard E. Moon

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Pathological Counterinsurgency: How Flawed Thinking About Elections Leads To Counterinsurgency Failure. Samuel R. Greene. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books, 2018., Mark T. Peters Ii

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

The Cyber Threat And Globalization: The Impact On U.S. National And International Security. By Jack A. Jarmon And Pano Yannakogeorgos. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2018., Mark J. Roberts

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

An Unfulfilled Promise: The Genocide Convention And The Obligation Of Prevention, Zachary A. Karazsia

Journal of Strategic Security

This article addresses the under-theorized dual-mandate of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The Convention was drafted in the wake of the Holocaust and other Nazi genocidal atrocities committed during World War II. The primary mission of the Genocide Convention was to establish a uniform definition of this scourge, and insert its prevention and punishment into the list of obligations states hold within the current international legal regime. Based on the past 70 years, it is clear that the international community has overwhelmingly failed to uphold the Genocide Convention’s prevention mandate. The …

The Future Of Strategic Information And Cyber-Enabled Information Operations, Ben Hatch

Journal of Strategic Security

To prepare for future challenges across the continuum of conflict, the United States (US) must optimize how it manages, counters, defends, and exploits the effects of information by organizing for strategic information and cyber-enabled information operations across and through multiple domains. Currently, information related capabilities are fielded across the United States Government (USG) among multiple organizations and agencies, and therefore lack efficiencies normally gained through combined action, unity of command, and unity of effort. In considering a solution to these challenges, this study examines historic and current examples of successful information operations to show organization matters, and reviews options to …

Can Volunteer Forces Deter Great Power War? Evidence From The Baltics, Lionel Beehner, Liam Collins

Journal of Strategic Security

Deterrence theory typically focuses on states’ armed forces and other tools of coercion. However, what about the resolve, resilience, and willingness of ordinary civilians who voluntarily organize and arm themselves as reservist militias to defend their homeland? Can well-armed volunteers in smaller states deter larger powers? We examine the case of the Baltic States and Russia, one of the central fault lines of global politics. Questioning the commitment of NATO to their collective security, the governments of the Baltic States have begun to actively arm, organize, recruit, and train thousands of volunteer reservists to defend their homelands from an asymmetric …

Huachicoleros: Criminal Cartels, Fuel Theft, And Violence In Mexico, Nathan P. Jones, John P. Sullivan

Journal of Strategic Security

Criminal cartels and gangs dominate the illicit economy in Mexico. These organized crime groups challenge the solvency (specifically capacity and legitimacy) of the state in Mexico. Organized crime in Mexico is involved in a range of activities including extortion, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and petroleum theft. Criminal cartels, often called drug trafficking organizations, have diversified into other illicit activities specifically petroleum theft. This paper provides an overview of the rise of a specialized organized criminal entity: huachicoleros. Huachicoleros specialize in fuel theft and like their narco counterparts use corruption and violence to protect their illicit market. The rise of …

Profiling Lone-Actor Terrorists: A Cross-Sectional Study Of Lone-Actor Terrorists In Western Europe (2015–2016), Mohammadmoein Khazaeli Jah, Ardavan Khoshnood

Journal of Strategic Security

Lone-actor terrorism is a growing threat in Western European countries as the numbers of lone-actor terrorist attacks have multiplied over the last 15 years. However, knowledge on this type of terrorism is insufficient. This current study evaluates whether there are any common personal, social, psychological, and operational characteristics among lone-actor terrorists (LATs) and whether any profile can be drawn in regard to a lone-actor terrorist. The authors identified 36 LATs between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2016, in Western European countries through the Global Terrorism Database. The study profiled these LATs regarding their sociodemographic characteristics, attack characteristics, method of …

Cyberwar And Revolution: Digital Subterfuge In Global Capitalism. By Nick Dyer-Witheford And Svitlana Matviyenko. Minneapolis, Mn: University Of Minnesota Press, 2019., Dr. Mark T. Peters Ii

Journal of Strategic Security

No abstract provided.

Delegated Interstate War: Introducing An Addition To Armed Conflict Typologies, Jakob Hauter

Journal of Strategic Security

Drawing the dividing line between civil and interstate war can be a difficult task. This task is made even more difficult by a gap in the current typology of armed conflict. The conflict studies literature in general and the coding rules of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program in particular acknowledge that internal conflict can involve external actors but ignore that interstate conflict can be disguised as internal rebellion. This creates an unnecessary risk of categorization errors and a risk of neglecting the potential complexity of interstate conflict in the modern world. This article uses Idean Salehyan's distinction between intervention and …