Leadership Studies Commons^™

Book Review: The Air War In Vietnam, Vince Alcazar

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Michael E. Weaver

Reviewed by Vince Alcazar, Air Force (retired) planner and fighter pilot, Department of Defense

The Air War in Vietnam addresses President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration’s use of airpower (or lack of it) and why American airpower underperformed, as well as airpower innovations that influenced the US warfare model in the Vietnam War. The reviewer bills this work as “…an indispensable volume of airpower scholarship. It is a richly developed analysis of airpower in a decade-long war with challenging hybrid characteristics and shifting US strategies.”

Coercing Fluently: The Grammar Of Coercion In The Twenty-First Century, C. Anthony Pfaff

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

To illustrate the logic and grammar of coercion, this analysis relies on decision-theory methods, such as game theory, that examine the strategic decision-making process in interactions with adversaries and partners. The intent here is not to offer predictive models of rational-actor behavior. Rather, the intent is to use game-theory and similar approaches to understand how coercion works better. This analysis considers competitive interactions between actors that have discrete and qualifiable, if not quantifiable, preferences and who behave rationally, though this analysis acknowledges the behavior that is considered rational is frequently informed by nonrational social, cultural, and psychological factors. Considering these …

Sino-Indian Border Disputes In An Era Of Strategic Expansions, Roman Muzalevsky

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The June 2020 clash between the People’s Republic of China and India in the disputed Ladakh border area resulted from the strategic expansions of both powers. Like two bubbles expanding in a contained space, these expansions were bound to collide and cause friction. This article explains how the expansions precipitated the incident and might exacerbate border disputes in the future. In pondering implications, it recommends Washington pursue a Eurasia-focused policy embracing the disputed region.

Crisis Management Lessons From The Clinton Administration's Implementation Of Presidential Decision Directive 56, Leonard R. Hawley

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Drawing on personal experience, the author asks what the current administration can learn from the Clinton administration’s implementation of Presidential Decision Directive 56, examines the real-world application of the directive during the Clinton administration and the pitfalls of its agency-centric successor during the Bush administration, and identifies recurring problems and best practices for successfully responding to current global crises.

Assessing Risk At The National Strategic Level: Visualization Tools For Military Planners, Wade A. Germann, Heather S. Gregg

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

The reemergence of great power competition, conflict with near-peer competitor states below the level of armed conflict, and persisting threats from nonstate actors with transnational ambitions and global reach pose challenges for strategists planning, executing, and assessing military operations and strategy. Building on current visualization tools, two proposed models—the National Strategic Risk Abacus and the National Strategic Risk Radar Chart—address these challenges and better depict how the US military may inadvertently contribute to risk at the national strategic level.

Security Threats, American Pressure, And The Role Of Key Personnel: How Nato’S Defence Planning Process Is Alleviating The Burden-Sharing Dilemma, John R. Deni

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

In 2017, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, none of the capability targets identified in NATO’s quadrennial NATO Defence Planning Process (NDPP) were left on the negotiating table. Previously, capability targets were identified by the alliance’s secretariat, but they remained unfilled as allies failed to assume responsibility for them.

This monograph examines the 2014–18 iteration of the NDPP, which represented a stunning turnaround in transatlantic burden sharing. The analysis reveals a combination of factors—the changed threat environment, political pressure from Washington, and the role of “policy entrepreneurs” working within NATO—best explain the alliance’s success in …

A Policy Response To Islamic State Extremist Fighter Battlefield Migration, Robert J. Bunker Dr.

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

June 2014 to December 2017 represented the high tide of radical Islamist (Salafi-jihadist) territorial control under the authority of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. This monograph analyzes and provides policy response options for US national security and Army planners concerning the potential for postterritorial caliphate battlefield migration by the sizable contingent of battle-hardened Islamic State foreign fighters situated within various enclaves in Syria and Iraq. The monograph achieves these ends by

• discussing Islamic State territorial eras and demographics;
• offering an overview of the initial inflows of these fighters into the territorial caliphate, outflows to the United States, and …

Denmark's Lessons, Sten Rynning

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues despite opportunities to learn valuable strategic lessons from Denmark’s effort in the Afghanistan War (2001–14), Danish civil authorities implemented a comprehensive approach policy that failed to establish a bridge to lessons learned by the military. Denmark’s experience in the Afghanistan War demonstrates promises and perils of lessons learned processes.

A Whole-Of-Government Approach To Gray Zone Warfare, Elzabeth G. Troeder

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

Gray zone warfare has increasingly been the strategy selected by states that are determined to influence change without the risk of major escalation to outright military war. It is a significant concern today, threatening U.S. national security as well as the security of U.S. allies and partners. Although warfare is traditionally led by the Department of Defense (DoD), as the use of gray zone warfare increases and evolves, a whole-of-government approach that incorporates the unique capabilities of Federal departments and agencies for this fight is needed.

Command Decision: Ethical Leadership In The Information Environment, Keir Giles Mr.

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

This monograph considers how a classical challenge that commanders face in war—namely, making critical decisions on the basis of limited and often unreliable information—has been exacerbated in the era of big data. Data overload complicates the intelligence community’s efforts to identify and exclude disinformation, misinformation, and deception, and thus hampers its ability to deliver reliable intelligence to inform decision-makers in a timely manner. The military commander remains responsible for making a final decision, yet the great wealth of data now available through the intelligence cycle amplifies the risk of decision paralysis. With this in mind, technological solutions tend to be …

2018 – 2020 Key Strategic Issues List, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.

Underestimated: Our Not So Peaceful Nuclear Future (Second Edition), Henry D. Sokolski

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

No abstract provided.

Radical Islamist English-Language Online Magazines: Research Guide, Strategic Insights, And Policy Response, Robert J. Bunker Dr., Pamela L. Bunnker

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

Radical Islamist online magazines first appeared in November 2003 with the publication of Sawt al-Jihad (Voice of Jihad) in Arabic. This magazine discontinued publication in April 2005 after 29 issues, having been shut down by the Saudi security services. The magazine was produced by the Saudi branch of al-Qaeda that later evolved into al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). It called upon other al-Qaeda groups to develop and franchise their own magazines. Besides the plethora of radical Islamist online magazines in Arabic that has been produced since 2003—along with those in many other languages including Urdu, Russian, German, French, and …

Current Russia Military Affairs: Assessing And Countering Russian Strategy, Operational Planning, And Modernization

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

No abstract provided.

Avoiding The Trap: Us Strategy And Policy For Competing In The Asia-Pacific Beyond The Rebalance

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

The pivot to Asia is over, suggested Susan Thornton, Acting Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, on the eve of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s first visit to Asia on March 14, 2017.1 This statement, though expected, begs many questions: Is this just a repeal of the bumper sticker “Strategic Rebalance,” typical of administration change? If so, what is its replacement? Moreover, if this change is just in name but not in substance, will President Donald Trump stay the course? If not, what will be Trump’s policy toward the Asia-Pacific? What should be the new …

Lessons Unlearned: Army Transformation And Low-Intensity Conflict, Pat Proctor

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines the US Army’s experiences and lessons learned during military interventions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. It explores why these lessons did not affect the Army transformation, directed in the late-1990s by James M. Dubik, John W. Hendrix, John N. Abrams, and Eric K. Shinseki.

Colloquium Brief: American Society And Its Profession Of Arms, Leonard Wong

Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs

No abstract provided.

Global And Functional Strategic Issues, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

Articles & Editorials

No abstract provided.