Digital Commons Network^™

Cognitive Warfare: The Fight For Gray Matter In The Digital Gray Zone, Michael J. Cheatham, Angelique M. Geyer, Priscella A. Nohle, Jonathan E. Vazquez

Joint Force Quarterly

Τhe United States is facing unprecedented challenges in the cognitive domain. While democracies struggle to develop frameworks that promote collective understanding, adversaries are employing gray zone tactics—those that never rise to the level of war—as a form of cognitive warfare against the United States and other democratic societies. François du Cluzel, head of innovative projects at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)’s Allied Command Transformation Innovation Hub, describes the key distinctions of the emerging cognitive domain:

Cognitive warfare degrades the capacity to know, produce, or thwart knowledge. Cognitive sciences cover all the sciences that concern knowledge and its processes (psychology, …

The Marine Corps The United States Needs, Adam Clemens

Joint Force Quarterly

Τhe U.S. Marine Corps is in the process of a bold modernization initiative known as Force Design, and Congress has called for an independent review, assessment, and analysis of this initiative.1 Force Design began during the tenure of the previous commandant, General David H. Berger, and the new commandant, General Eric M. Smith, sworn in last year, endorses it in his official guidance, FRAGO (Fragmentary Order) 01-2024, Maintain Momentum.2 The continuation of Force Design under a new commandant and the congressional attention it is receiving provide opportune circumstances to consider the Marine Corps’ roles and missions.

Engines Of Chaos: Counterlogistics In Competition, 2023-A Class Of The Advanced Logistics Readiness Officer Course

Joint Force Quarterly

U.S. success at the operational level of war has led to a blossoming of competition in domains below the level of open hostility. The 2023 Joint Concept for Competing (JCC) points out that our adversaries seek to “win without fighting” and that the joint force is at risk of “losing without fighting.”2 The JCC attempts to reorient the joint force to better compete below the level of high-intensity conflict.

Jointness As Virtue: Increasing The Value Of Joint Qualification To The Joint Force And Services, Thomas D. Crimmins, Eric S. Fowler, Daryl A. Chamberlain

Joint Force Quarterly

Ιn “Balancing Nonresident Joint Professional Military Education With Military Life,” Commander Doug Morea makes the salient point that the current joint professional military education (JPME) process fails the individual joint warfighter in preparing for the challenges of serving in combatant commands and other joint forces.1 As joint educators, we agree with Commander Morea’s premise and offer that the current JPME model not only fails the individual joint warfighter but is also wholly inadequate for what the joint force requires both today and in an uncertain future. From the start, the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense (DOD) Reorganization Act of 1986 enshrined …

Was 50 Years Long Enough? The All-Volunteer Force In An Era Of Large-Scale Combat Operations, Kent W. Park, John A. Nagl

Joint Force Quarterly

Ιn an era of geopolitical competition among major powers, a large-scale war could last longer and result in more casualties than anything the United States has experienced since World War II. It is unclear whether the all-volunteer force (AVF) that the United States has relied on for the past 50 years, with extraordinary and unexpected success, can meet the manpower requirements in quality and quantity and in time to win the large-scale combat operations that the Department of Defense (DOD) is preparing for.

Civilian Harm Mitigation And Response: The Imperative Of An All-Domain Approach, Alexus G. Grynkewich, Thomas R. Burks, Alex B. Coberly, Samantha A. Mcclure

Joint Force Quarterly

Τhe Department of Defense (DOD) seeks to reduce civilian harm caused by military operations and to improve its ability to respond when civilian harm occurs. To this end, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved and released the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP) on August 25, 2022. CHMR-AP is a watershed initiative in which DOD commits to improving its ability to prevent, mitigate, and respond to civilian harm. No amount of prevention or mitigation will eliminate civilian harm in armed conflict, nor does international law demand that civilian harm be eliminated. Still, providing civilians more protection than international …

Deviance And Innovation: Change In A “Society Of Saints”, Thaddeus V. Drake, Derrick L. Mcclain

Joint Force Quarterly

Μilitary innovation and adaptation studies are a growth industry. Since the publication of Barry Posen’s seminal study The Sources of Military Doctrine in the early 1980s, the field has grown extensively. Despite well-known military thinkers’ recent book-length treatments of the topic, most studies of change in the military retain two key commonalities. First, nearly all assume that innovation or adaptation is inherently good and worth pursuing. Second, they agree that militaries are famously resistant to change and accept this as part of the fundamental nature of the military system. This article acknowledges the first point; indeed, modern military leaders continually …

The Future Of Great Power Competition: Trajectories, Transitions, And Prospects For Catastrophic War, Thomas F. Lynch Iii

Joint Force Quarterly

Τhe dominant geostrategic framework of international relations today is that of a Great Power competition (GPC) among three rivalrous, globally dominant states: the United States, Russia, and China. After more than two decades of mainly cooperation and collaboration, they drifted into de facto competition at the end of the 2000s. By the middle of the 2010s, their undeclared but obvious rivalry intensified. Fully acknowledged GPC arrived in late 2017 when the United States published its National Security Strategy and declared a formal end to the 25-year era of U.S.-led globalization and active American democratization initiatives.

Executive Summary, William T. Eliason

Joint Force Quarterly

Αs I have written before in this space, change is a constant. NDU Press and Joint Force Quarterly are not immune to this fact. Recently, we moved to a more modern Web-based platform that will be less expensive to maintain and operate. The work became more complicated than anticipated, causing JFQ 113 to be a bit tardy online and in the mailbox, but our team worked out a way to daylight. Leading the charge was our “unicorn” Internet Publications Editor, Ms. Joanna “Joey” Seich. She took a suggested path from my director here at NDU’s Institute for National Strategic Studies …

Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 114, 3rd Quarter 2024, National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly

Joint Force Quarterly 114 explores the evolving dynamics of great power competition, military innovation, and the future of joint force effectiveness. The issue opens with insights from senior leadership, setting the stage for discussions on the trajectories of global power shifts, civilian harm mitigation, and the viability of the all-volunteer force in modern warfare. Contributions to joint professional military education (JPME) highlight the need to balance career development with military obligations, enhance joint qualification value, and address logistics challenges in contested environments. Commentary pieces examine the strategic direction of the Marine Corps, the future of noncombatant evacuation operations post-Afghanistan, and …

Capability Gaps In Allied Space Deterrence, Mary A. Black

Space and Defense

U.S. predominance in space power is undermined by two capability gaps: the transatlantic gap for interoperability and the authoritarian gap for defense against asymmetric threats.

Operational Energy Solutions For A 21st Century Battlefield, Nestor R. Levin

Space and Defense

Development of alternative energy storage and distribution capacity for the modern battlefield is a major national security interest.

American Sanctions On China's Space Program: Effective Economic Statecraft?, Paul J. Bolt

Space and Defense

American economic statecraft as a tool to manage competition with China’s Space Program is likely to remain contentious as it amplifies enduring debates in U.S. foreign policy: i) the tension between international realism and American liberalism; ii) the questionable benefit of government involvement in picking winners and losers from the private sector; and iii) the difficulty of defining long-term success in foreign policy outcomes.

Lieutenant General Robert C. Richardson Jr.: Central Pacific Theater Army Commander For Admiral Chester W. Nimitz 1943–45, James D. Scudieri

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

This monograph analyzes Lieutenant General Robert C. Richardson Jr.’s service as de facto theater Army commander to Admiral Chester W. Nimitz from August 1943 to June 1945. It focuses on the theater-strategic level when Richardson led US Army Forces in Central Pacific Area and US Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas. This study highlights the context of Richardson’s operating environment beginning with prewar plans, the realities of early wartime defeats, and the state of joint operating procedures. It assesses Richardson’s accomplishments in exercising Landpower in the Pacific, across the entire range of today’s Army war-fighting and Joint functions and discusses the …

Approaches And Tools Of Peace And Conflict Management Between Two Perspectives, Yasmine Z. Radwan

Future Journal of Social Science

This study aims at pointing out the tools of peace and the approaches to conflict management and resolution presented in the Islamic and Western perspectives. It also searches for clarifying the convergent and divergent zones that could help in finding, analyzing and criticizing the basic concepts on which arguments and debates are constructed. This study concluded that the differences between the Islamic and the Western perspective are a human requirement for acquainting and integrating based on a crucial notion, which is identity. Identity is treated in details in many discourses and occupies a large place in the Western literature on …

2024 O'Callahan Society Newsletter, O'Callahan Society, College Of The Holy Cross

O'Callahan Society Newsletters

This annual newsletter of the O'Callahan Society includes articles about the 2023 Annual Dinner. Admiral James G. Stavridis, United States Navy (Retired) was guest speaker. President of the College of the Holy Cross, Vincent D. Rougeau, made introductory remarks. VADM Peter Daly, US Navy (Ret) was 2024 Annual Meeting Speaker.

Private Management Of African Protected Areas Improves Wildlife And Tourism Outcomes But With Security Concerns In Conflict Regions, Sean Denny, Gabriel Englander, Patrick Hunnicutt

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Protected areas can conserve wildlife and benefit people when managed effectively. African governments increasingly delegate the management of protected areas to private, nongovernmental organizations, hoping that private organizations’ significant resources and technical capacities actualize protected areas’ potential. Does private sector management improve outcomes compared to a counterfactual of government management? We leverage the transfer of management authority from governments to African Parks (AP)—the largest private manager of protected areas in Africa—to show that private management significantly improves wildlife outcomes via reduced elephant poaching and increased bird abundances. Our results also suggest that AP’s management augments tourism, while the effect on …

A Call To Action: Lessons From Ukraine For The Future Force, John A. Nagl, Katie Crombe

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

John A. Nagl, Project Director
Katie Crombe, Chief of Staff

This book explores the changing character of war through the lens of the Russia-Ukraine War. The authors analyze the conflict’s history, each side’s warfighting functions, the role of multidomain operations, and more. The radical changes in the character of war suggest the United States is at a strategic inflection point. The authors draw lessons from both the Ukrainians and the Russians to suggest improvements for the United States. Advances in drone technology, cyber warfare, and electromagnetic warfare pose new technological vulnerabilities and possibilities. In addition, the war has highlighted the …

Joint Force Quarterly, Vol. 112 (1st Quarter 2024)

Joint Force Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Converting A Political- To A Military-Strategic Objective, Milan Vego

Joint Force Quarterly

Political objectives are usually achieved by using one’s military power. Converting political objectives into achievable military-strategic objectives is the primary responsibility of military-strategic leadership. This process is largely an art rather than a science. There are many potential pitfalls because much depends on the knowledge, understanding, experience, and judgment of military-strategic leaders. Most often, mistakes made are only recognized after setbacks or defeats suffered during the hostilities. Despite its critical importance, there is no consensus on the steps and methods in converting political- into military-strategic objectives. There is scant writing on the subject in either doctrinal documents or professional journals.

The "Survival Chain": Medical Support To Military Operations On The Future Battlefield, Jennifer M. Gurney, Jeremy C. Pamplin, Mason H. Remondelli, Stacy A. Shackelford, Jay B. Baker, Sean P. Conley, Benjamin K. Potter, Travis M. Polk, Eric A. Elster, Kyle N. Remick

Joint Force Quarterly

The Department of Defense Joint Trauma System (JTS) was created to provide optimal care to the wounded on a battlefield. The current National Defense Strategy anticipates future threats of large-scale combat operations (LSCO) against peer adversaries that may limit overall freedom of maneuver for medical evacuation, increase survivability risk of medical units, and limit timeliness and robustness of critical medical logistics. Thus, the JTS must continue to evolve and embrace the concept of Medical Performance Optimization (MPO) to adapt to this new operational reality.

New Strategic Deterrence Frameworks For Modern-Day Challenges, Kayse Jansen

Joint Force Quarterly

Decades of fighting militarily inferior adversaries with little to no concern of strategic escalation have atrophied the intellectual frameworks required to deter and, if necessary, fight today’s potential adversaries. Paths to nuclear use, strategies that simultaneously account for prevailing conventionally while deterring strategic attacks, and concepts to restore deterrence should an adversary choose strategic escalation are among the most important considerations the United States must contend with in an era of intensifying Great Power competition. So along with modernizing the hardware and software of the U.S. nuclear enterprise, we are called to revitalize our cognitive approaches. This requires the national …

Accelerating Cyber Leader Development: A Call To Action For Service War Colleges, Alfredo Rodriguez Iii

Joint Force Quarterly

Cyber leaders find their organizations under constant cyber attack from millions of daily intrusions disrupting everything from our electoral system to our social media feeds. Today, cyberspace provides both technological opportunity and vulnerability. The frightening reality is that the Nation is adrift in a dangerous cyberspace domain, a warfighting domain that stores, processes, and analyzes data under the uncertain eye of ill-prepared senior cyber leaders. This article is squarely focused on a recommendation to deliberately develop senior cyber leaders within the Department of Defense (DOD) to win in this dangerous battlespace.

A New Form Of Accountability In Jpme: The Shift To Outcomes-Based Military Education, Kristin Mulready-Stone

Joint Force Quarterly

The programs responsible for teaching joint professional military education (JPME) Phases I and II are undergoing a significant transformation in demonstrating their mission fulfillment. Governed by the Officer Professional Military Education Policy (OPMEP), particularly OPMEP-F, implemented on May 15, 2020, these institutions are moving towards outcomes-based military education (OBME). Unlike previous versions, OPMEP-F requires programs to prove achievement on defined learning outcomes, marking a departure from merely demonstrating coverage of mandated content. This shift reflects a comprehensive change in validating JPME program success and ensuring graduates reach specified levels of achievement on defined learning outcomes.

Microgrids For The 21st Century: The Case For A Defense Energy Architecture, Steven Curtis, Peter D. Rocha

Joint Force Quarterly

The Department of Defense (DOD) needs a new approach to electrical grid infrastructure to maintain security and access to operational energy. Recent natural disasters and cyber attacks have exposed the vulnerability of the current system, posing threats to military operational readiness. Strategic military facilities currently acquire most of their electric power directly from the national grid, which is increasingly vulnerable to failures. The problems experienced to date could be exponentially worse if targeted by a sophisticated adversary.

Position, Navigation, And Timing Weaponization In The Maritime Domain: Orientation In The Era Of Great Systems Conflict, Diane M. Zorri, Gary C. Kessler

Joint Force Quarterly

The jamming and spoofing of Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Automatic Identification System (AIS) information has escalated in the last half-dozen years from simple demonstrations of capability to truly dangerous situations where misperceptions could ignite a major conflict. Because of the grave danger that GPS and AIS weaponization entails, it is essential that policymakers and maritime operators understand not only the risks and implications of these threats, but also the mitigation techniques and countermeasures that add resilience to the warfighter.

When Does Gray Zone Confrontation End? A Conceptual Analysis, Lukas Milevski

Joint Force Quarterly

The gray zone remains one of the most fashionable strategic concepts of the past few years in the United States, it encapsulates a particular subset of international relations, in the process affecting the ideational distinction between war and peace. While the gray zone concept may have negligible strategic-analytical merit, its high social utility persists and should be recognized.

Preventing Arms Diversion In Wartime Ukraine: A Brief Overview, Olena Kryzhanivska Ph.D.

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

Ukraine has entered its third year defending against Russia’s full-scale invasion, and despite emerging as one of the largest importers of weapons, it manages to prevent their major diversion. Experts evaluate the current arms control and weapons and ammunition management efforts by Ukraine and its allies with cautious optimism. Although obtaining detailed information about the intricacies of weaponry management in Ukraine is challenging, open sources allow us to glimpse some of the current measures taken during wartime. This article presents a brief overview of Ukraine's counter-diversion efforts and those of its partners, encompassing monitoring and control of international military aid, …

The Journal Of Conventional Weapons Destruction Issue 28.2, Cisr Jmu

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

No abstract provided.

Defending An Achilles’ Heel: Evolving Warfare In The Philippines, 1941–1945, Robert S. Burrell

Joint Force Quarterly

The Pacific War during World War II provided valuable lessons in military strategy and the importance of unconventional warfare. Japan’s aggressive expansion in the 1930s and 1940s left to a major conflict with the United States over control of the Philippine Islands. Japan’s advancements in naval technology, including the largest battleships and superior night combat tactics, allowed them to invade the Philippines in December 1941. Filipino resistance against Japanese occupation grew, with various local groups using guerilla warfare tactics to fight back. These resistance movements played a crucial role in opposing Japanese forces. Intelligence operations were also vital. U.S. submarines …