Book Review: Resourcing The National Security Enterprise: Connecting The Ways And Means Of Us National Security, 2024 US Army War College
Book Review: Resourcing The National Security Enterprise: Connecting The Ways And Means Of Us National Security, Christopher Sandrolini
Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews
Edited by: Susan Bryant and Mark Troutman
Reviewed by Christopher Sandrolini, Foreign Service officer and professor, US Army War College
Foreign Service officer and US Army War College professor Christopher Sandrolini calls this anthology, which contextualizes the defense budget within federal spending, a “well-organized and lucid practical introduction to working within the confines of a bureaucracy.” He highlights and distills Bryant and Troutman’s main arguments, noting, “[m]astering these rules [of bureaucracy] is essential to turn strategies and policies into funded, viable programs.” He also discusses the book’s explanation of how the Department of Defense balances the “four pillars” framework (force …
Emerging Technologies And Terrorism: An American Perspective, 2024 US Army War College
Emerging Technologies And Terrorism: An American Perspective
Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs
In a world where technology is rapidly advancing and available to the masses, companies and policymakers face a daunting reality—non-state actors are using innovation for sinister purposes. While artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems promise enhanced threat detection, terrorist groups are exploiting these tools for recruitment and attacks. The future is concerning as AI becomes more widespread and autonomous systems and augmented reality redefine society.
A groundbreaking report is born from a collaboration between NATO COE-DAT and the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute. This book unveils a grim forecast that terrorists are poised to exploit advances in artificial …
Decisive Decade: Prc Global Strategy And The Pla As A Pacing Challenge – 2023 Pla Conference, 2024 US Army War College
Decisive Decade: Prc Global Strategy And The Pla As A Pacing Challenge – 2023 Pla Conference
Monographs, Collaborative Studies, & IRPs
The US Army War College’s 2023 Conference on the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was held February 22 to 24, 2023, at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. The conference, entitled “Decisive Decade: PRC Global Strategy and the PLA as Pacing Challenge,” featured presentations on PRC global and regional strategy, and the PLA’s enabling role by experts from a wide range of academic, media, and government agencies and organizations.
The conference papers better defined the notion of the PLA as a pacing challenge as evidenced by PRC strategies and activities in various regions to build a much stronger appreciation of how PLA operations in …
Book Review: Military Culture Shift: The Impact Of War, Money, And Generational Perspective On Morale, Retention, And Leadership, 2024 US Army War College
Book Review: Military Culture Shift: The Impact Of War, Money, And Generational Perspective On Morale, Retention, And Leadership, Rodger M. Kissane
Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews
Author: Corie Weathers
Reviewed by Rodger M. Kissane, graduate student, College of International Security Affairs, National Defense University
Rodger M. Kissane provides a thoughtful review of this important book on “bridging and even transcending generational differences” in the US military. Kissane highlights author Corie Weathers’s “insightful . . . recognition that each generation imprints itself upon the institution in ways that reflect their life experiences.” He also outlines the book’s relevance to leaders in that Weathers addresses “ ‘messy dynamics’ leaders confront in synthesizing . . . various perspectives, ideals, and values.”
Terrorism In Africa: An Analysis Of The Efficacy Of U.S. Counterterrorism, 2024 Pepperdine University
Terrorism In Africa: An Analysis Of The Efficacy Of U.S. Counterterrorism, Max Yong
Global Tides
This paper seeks to identify whether United States aid to Africa has impacted violent terrorist activity on the continent. The existing literature has produced a range of critiques. Many have voiced concern about foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) growing and blame ineffective efforts by the U.S. for this reality. Instances of African nations, in the face of persisting security challenges from FTOs, turning to political adversaries of the U.S. for assistance is evidence of this sentiment. Furthermore, terror attacks since the onset of the U.S. Global War on Terror (GWOT) have only remained higher than in the previous era. Others have …
To Walk The Earth In Safety 23rd Edition (Fy2023), 2024 James Madison University
To Walk The Earth In Safety 23rd Edition (Fy2023), Cisr Jmu
Global CWD Repository
In this year’s edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety, we highlight the many ways that U.S. conventional weapons destruction assistance promotes post-conflict recovery. For example, our humanitarian demining funding enhances food security by helping to revitalize agricultural fields in countries like Sri Lanka and Vietnam. This funding is especially critical in Sri Lanka where more than 6 million people—nearly 30 percent of the population—are currently food-insecure. In Vietnam, our commitment to promoting agricultural security is a key component to successful post-conflict recovery, even decades after war ended.
The United States is the world’s top supporter of conventional …
The Place Of Nuclear Weapons In Russian Identity: An Ontological Security Analysis, 2024 Old Dominion University
The Place Of Nuclear Weapons In Russian Identity: An Ontological Security Analysis, Peter Ernest Yeager
Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations
On May 9, 2008, Russia’s Victory Day, four 14-wheeled MAZ-7917s drove through Red Square carrying Topol intercontinental ballistic missiles. This was the first time nuclear weapons had been paraded through Moscow since before the end of the Cold War. The previous August, Russia had resumed nuclear-capable bomber patrols, and in January, 2007, President Putin acknowledged Russia had begun to build new nuclear weapons. These remarkable events were met with little acknowledgement in the West, as if they were completely normal. Instead, they represented a major evolution in the bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia. Sixteen years of fitful …
Review: Hybrid Warriors: Proxies, Freelancers And Moscow’S Struggle For Ukraine, 2024 US Army War College
Review: Hybrid Warriors: Proxies, Freelancers And Moscow’S Struggle For Ukraine, Sarah Lohmann
Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews
Author: Anna Arutunyan
Reviewed by Dr. Sarah Lohmann, teaching faculty, University of Washington
Dr. Sarah Lohmann, editor of What Ukraine Taught NATO about Hybrid Warfare (US Army War College Press, 2022), calls Anna Arutunyan's latest book, Hybrid Warriors, a "must-read for senior members of the US defense community" that "encourages strategists to think beyond segmented operations to ensure Russia's broad defeat." Lohmann highlights the book's value in that it provides "perspectives that have not yet been heard in the West," as Arutunyan "relies on Russian sources from media and academia, as well as hundreds of interviews." Lohmann also notes …
Book Review: The War In Nicaragua, 2024 US Army War College
Book Review: The War In Nicaragua, Joerg Stenzel
Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews
Review essay by Colonel Joerg Stenzel, instructor, Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, US Army War College
Colonel Joerg Stenzel (German Army), an instructor at the US Army War College, lends his expertise in strategy to this review of "the most famous and successful" filibuster featured in William Walker's 1860 work, The War in Nicaragua. As Stenzel notes, the book is Walker's "personal description of his own war in Nicaragua" that it is "arguably biased" and written "in the third person in a style that differs greatly from his earlier editorials." Stenzel provides an overview of Walker's life …
Book Review: Conflict: The Evolution Of Warfare From 1945 To Ukraine, 2024 US Army War College
Book Review: Conflict: The Evolution Of Warfare From 1945 To Ukraine, John A. Nagl
Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews
Authors: David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts
Reviewed by Dr. John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College
Teaser: Dr. John A. Nagl provides readers a roadmap to navigate—and a lens with which to interpret—General David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts's best-selling book, Conflict, which Nagl considers "'[t]he closest thing to a memoir" of Petraeus and "likely . . . the best first-person account in history of [Petraeus's] efforts and results in Iraq and Afghanistan that made him the most important Army officer of his generation." Nagl focuses on what he believes are Petraeus's main contributions to the …
China's Use Of Nontraditional Strategic Landpower In Asia, 2024 US Army War College
China's Use Of Nontraditional Strategic Landpower In Asia, Sheena Chestnut Greitens
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
This article argues that the People’s Republic of China uses its police and internal security forces as a nontraditional means of projecting strategic Landpower in the Indo-Pacific and Central Asia. Instead of limiting analysis of China’s power projection to military forces, this article employs new data on Chinese police engagements abroad to fill a gap in our understanding of the operating environment in Asia. Policymakers will gain an understanding of how these activities enhance China’s presence, partnerships, and influence across the region to inform the development of recommendations for a more effective response.
Parameters Spring 2024, 2024 US Army War College
Parameters Spring 2024, Usawc Press
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
No abstract provided.
Rethinking The Relevance Of Self-Deterrence, 2024 US Army War College
Rethinking The Relevance Of Self-Deterrence, Jeffrey H. Michaels
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
Self-deterrence is critically understudied in deterrence theory. Similarly, deterrence practitioners prefer to focus on adversaries’ threats rather than seeking to account for the full scope of fears influencing the decision calculus of policymakers. Through historical case studies, this article identifies where self-deterrence has occurred, highlights the benefits of incorporating the concept in future strategic planning and intelligence assessments, and recommends that policymakers, strategists, and analysts acknowledge self-deterrence as an important factor when preparing for future wars.
Strategy As Problem-Solving, 2024 US Army War College
Strategy As Problem-Solving, Andrew Carr
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
This article proposes a new definition of strategy as problem-solving that challenges the focus on goals and assumptions of order within many post–Cold War approaches to strategy. It argues that the military needs strategy to diagnose the complex problems of the twenty-first century before they can be solved. Inspired by practitioners such as Andrew Marshall and George F. Kennan, this new definition clarifies what strategists do and offers a logic for distinguishing the use of the term strategy. Practitioners will also find problem-solving tools and pedagogies they can adopt today.
From The Editor In Chief, 2024 US Army War College
From The Editor In Chief, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
Welcome to the Spring 2024 issue of Parameters. Readers will note a few differences in the formatting for this issue: we are now using endnotes instead of footnotes to facilitate switching from pdf to html via Adobe's Liquid App; also, readers will be able to click on each endnote number to view the full endnote and then switch back to the text to resume reading. Please drop us a note to let us know how you like the changes. More are coming!
International Law, Self-Defense, And The Israel-Hamas Conflict, 2024 US Army War College
International Law, Self-Defense, And The Israel-Hamas Conflict, Eric A. Heinze
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
This article examines the international law of self-defense as it applies to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict to determine whether the October 2023 attacks by Hamas against Israel can be interpreted under Article 51 of the UN Charter as an “armed attack” that gives Israel the right to use military force in self-defense against non-state actors. It situates the conflict within ongoing legal and political debates, shows how this conflict fits into a changing global reality where the most dangerous security threats do not exclusively emanate from other states and concludes that Israel’s resort to force in the current conflict appears …
Us-Taiwan Relations And The Future Of The Liberal International Order, 2024 US Army War College
Us-Taiwan Relations And The Future Of The Liberal International Order, Christina Lai
The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters
Strengthening ties with Taiwan is the best chance the United States has to preserve the liberal international order in Asia and improve its security relative to China. This study offers a normative perspective on how Taiwan can contribute to US-led international institutions and the Asian regional order and reduce conflict risk. It concludes with recommendations for the United States and its partners to integrate Taiwan into multilateral institutions in Asia.
Book Review: Small Armies, Big Cities: Rethinking Urban Warfare, 2024 US Army War College
Book Review: Small Armies, Big Cities: Rethinking Urban Warfare, John P. Sullivan
Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews
Author: Louise A. Tumchewics (editor)
Reviewed by Dr. John P. Sullivan, instructor, Safe Communities Institute, University of Southern California
Dr. John P. Sullivan gives an overview of Louise A. Tumchewics's anthology on the "persistent challenge" of urban warfare and highlights the work's strongest chapters and their value to "commanders and planners of future urban operations." Sullivan mentions chapter author Patrick Finnegan's discussion of "liminality" as particularly valuable and also calls John Spencer's siege discussion "one of the book's core contributions."
Book Review: Waging A Good War: How The Civil Rights Movement Won Its Battles, 1954–1968, 2024 US Army War College
Book Review: Waging A Good War: How The Civil Rights Movement Won Its Battles, 1954–1968, Keith Nightingale
Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews
Author: Thomas E. Ricks
Reviewed by Keith Nightingale, retired colonel, US Army
Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas E. Ricks frames the American civil rights movement in terms of a (nonviolent) war, examining the leadership, strategy, and tactics required for success. Ricks also discusses the postwar-like effects the movement had on its participants (such as PTSD), which reviewer Colonel Keith Nightingale (US Army, retired) calls "the most poignant matter in the book." Nightingale also praises the work as "a highly readable dissection of the movement" and "a history of the first order."
Book Review: The Islamic State In Afghanistan And Pakistan: Strategic Alliances And Rivalries, 2024 US Army War College
Book Review: The Islamic State In Afghanistan And Pakistan: Strategic Alliances And Rivalries, Thomas F. Lynch Iii
Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews
Authors: Amira Jadoon with Andrew Mines
Reviewed by Thomas F. Lynch III, PhD, Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute of National Strategic Studies, National Defense University
Dr. Thomas F. Lynch III offers his expertise in a thoughtful review of this "essential primer" on the Islamic-State Khorasan Province (ISK). While finding the book's idea that the ISK is currently a "latent, global terrorist threat" to be "less persuasive," Lynch highlights the value of author Amira Jadoon's unique ability "to write with an appropriate level of depth about the complexity of tribal groups, subgroups, fragments, and splinters" and notes that "There is no other …