Digital Commons Network^™

Seeking The Bomb, Tobias Bernard Switzer

Joint Force Quarterly

After nearly 80 years of scholarship on nuclear weapons, one might understandably believe that all the important issues have been addressed, if not settled. However, Vipin Narang, professor of political science at MIT, has a knack for asking and answering questions that other nuclear strategy researchers have overlooked. Whereas most academic work looks at superpowers, Narang’s book Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era: Regional Powers and International Conflict (Princeton University Press, 2014) examines how the strategic deterrence postures of non-superpower nuclear states differ from those of superpowers. And now, in his latest, Seeking the Bomb, he extracts insights from studying …

Beyond Ukraine, Dwight "Buzz" Phillips

Joint Force Quarterly

This book is a collection of essays by leading defense theorists, exploring warfare's future due to recent conflicts and technological advancements. The book is divided into four topics: the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, future war landscapes, military innovation, and the nature of future conflicts. Authors tackle questions about war’s nature and the evolving character of warfare. This highlights the necessity of broad, interdisciplinary thinking to grasp the complex and changing nature of war.

Commander’S Critical Information Requirements: Crucial For Decisionmaking And Joint Synchronization, Christopher R. Bolton, Matthew R. Prescott

Joint Force Quarterly

Effective decision-making in modern joint military operations demands timely access to critical information. Commander’s Critical Information Requirements (CCIRs) address this challenge by identifying and prioritizing essential information for operational decisions. This article proposes enhancing CCIR development aligned with decision points across planning horizons using a backward-planning methodology supported by tools like the Decision Support Matrix (DSM). It also explores integrating CCIRs within the intelligence collection and analysis cycle to align intelligence efforts with operational goals across Joint Planning Process (JPP) phases. This article aims to strengthen decision-making processes and enhance operational outcomes in joint military operations.

Mission (Command) Complete: Implications Of Jadc2, Joseph M. Mcgiffin

Joint Force Quarterly

Command and control (C2) is crucial in military operations, guiding how authority directs missions. As warfare evolves with AI, hypersonic weapons, and autonomous platforms, the U.S. military is advancing its Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC) initiatives. This effort aims to unify military networks for better decision-making. This article explores challenges in adapting Joint C2 networks for JADC2. It compares new technologies with current military practices, highlighting where changes are needed. Key areas include strategic planning, tactical operations, and how JADC2 affects mission command. Recommendations focus on improving readiness for future conflicts by enhancing interoperability and decision-making across military branches.

The Other Arctic: Competition, Cooperation, Or Coexistence?, John B. Kelley, Christopher J. Sarton, Scott A. Curtice, Charles C. York Iii

Joint Force Quarterly

In Antarctica, the United States must mitigate risks stemming from competitive influences working to alter the current paradigms, but it also should seize the opportunities that Antarctica’s unique status affords. As climate change continues to open new opportunities in polar regions, international concern has grown over the potential for the future irresponsible use of the area by actors more concerned with military and economic advantage than conservation efforts. Apprehension over the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s activities raises more significant concerns that Antarctica may become a region of military competition instead of global cooperation. This apprehension is well-founded but not …

Evangelicals As Zionists And Peacemakers In Arab And Israeli Peacemaking Through Track Ii Diplomacy, Johnnie Moore

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study contributes to the literature at the intersection of religion and foreign policy by focusing on one of the modern era's most protracted and relevant foreign policy issues (the conflict between Israelis and Arabs), the influence of one of America’s most powerful religious constituencies (evangelicals), and one of the most widely used tools of non- governmental diplomacy (Track II diplomacy). It provides original research related to the relevancy of Track II diplomacy by evangelicals, specifically pro-Israel or “Zionist” evangelicals, in Israeli and Arab peacemaking. The study analyzes three relevant case studies to answer the research question: “How are …

Dod’S Need For A Transportable Energy Solution: The Promise Of Nuclear Power, Aaron Horwood, Juan Vitali, Ruddie Ibanez, Travis Knight

Joint Force Quarterly

Following Hurricane Maria in 2017, the Federal Government’s use of diesel generators exposed the limitations of renewable energy for large-scale operational needs of the Department of Defense (DoD). Solar and wind are impractical and costly for such demands, and green and synthetic fuels face significant supply chain challenges unless produced on-site. Transportable nuclear reactors, proven effective by the Navy, can produce large quantities of synthetic fuel and reduce reliance on vulnerable supply chains. Expanding the DoD’s nuclear capabilities offers reliable, transportable energy, enhancing military logistics, reducing costs, and supporting emissions reduction efforts.

Supporting People With Policy And Platforms: The Key To Acquisition Reform, Matthew B. Cook

Joint Force Quarterly

In the evolving landscape of AI and dual-use technologies, the DoD faces challenges in managing intellectual property (IP) and adapting acquisition strategies. Ellen Lord’s Software Acquisition Pathway highlights how commercial practices can advance DoD strategies through iterative development and collaboration. Flexible funding supports dynamic software projects. Training improvements aim to enhance skills with a focus on hands-on learning. The Senior Service College Fellowship (SSCF) and Acquisition Instructor Course offer immersive training for leaders at different career stages. Internationally, the UK’S 2009 Gray Report emphasizes significant investments in acquisition training. To respond effectively to evolving threats, the DoD must reform acquisition …

Breaking The Shield: Countering Drone Defenses, Zachary Kallenborn, Marcel Plichta

Joint Force Quarterly

The article begins with an overview of drone defenses, with an emphasis on how they operate, and the trade-offs involved. The article then looks at countermeasures to drone defenses, surveying 11 different approaches to breaking the drone shield. The emphasis is on an overview to understand the scope of the possibilities and the potential trade-offs associated with each approach. Countering drone defenses depends entirely on which ones are employed and prove most effective, so the value of specific counter-countermeasures will change over time. We next present policy recommendations that emphasize understanding adversary drone defenses; developing, assessing, and fielding counter-countermeasure approaches …

Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 113, 2nd Quarter 2024, National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly

JFQ is certainly the Chairman’s journal, but it exists solely to give voice to you and your ideas on the joint force, jointness in general, and how best to fight and win our Nation’s wars and secure the peace. For over 30 years, the best and brightest among us have sustained the dialogue within these pages, whether physical or virtual. Help us continue this great tradition by sending us your articles and adding to the growing body of knowledge that is Joint Force Quarterly.

Taking Cues From Complexity: How Complex Adaptive Systems Prepare For All-Domain Operations, Benjamin Selzer

Joint Force Quarterly

How can a complex adaptive systems (CAS) model guide a Service when facing future challenges at the individual and Service/institutional levels? This article provides recommendations on how to address these challenges taken from the study of CAS. These studies can inform efforts to develop doctrine, education, training, planning, and eventual implementation of joint all-domain operations (JADO) doctrine.

Executive Summary, William T. Eliason

Joint Force Quarterly

JFQ is certainly the Chairman’s journal, but it exists solely to give voice to you and your ideas on the joint force, jointness in general, and how best to fight and win our Nation’s wars and secure the peace. For over 30 years, the best and brightest among us have sustained the dialogue within these pages, whether physical or virtual. Help us continue this great tradition by sending us your articles and adding to the growing body of knowledge that is Joint Force Quarterly.

The Psychological Risks Of War Between The United States And China, Eugen Koh

New England Journal of Public Policy

The relationship between the United States and China has deteriorated over the past two decades and fears of escalating risks of war are regularly reported in global media. This article explores the psychological factors that contribute to the two superpowers shifting from a collaborative relationship to a competitive relationship, seeing each other as enemies, feeling increasingly threatened by each other, failing to consider the heightened sensitivities that arise from their respective traumatic pasts, triggering the collapse of thinking and unleashing of uncontainable emotionality, escalating accidents to conflict, and escalating conflict to war. It highlights the dangers of ignoring heightened trauma-related …

Brothers And Sisters From Another Mother–Promoting Inter-Cultural Understanding, Conflict Reduction, And Solidarity Among Partner Forces In The Sahel, Alain Tschudin, James Smith

New England Journal of Public Policy

The dynamics of war have changed markedly from conventional battlefield kinetic encounters to unconventional sub-threshold or asymmetric warfare, with combatants using new tactics and emergent technologies to gain a comparative advantage over their adversaries. In the face of such developments and mindful of globalized extremist challenges, we propose that fresh innovations should be encouraged with respect to the conventional training of international and African partner forces tasked with teaming up to engage security threats in the Sahel region. Accordingly, this article promotes a contemporary peacebuilding approach using a transformative, dialogical methodology that focuses on the promotion of greater inter-cultural understanding …

New Technologies In Wars, Old And New, John, Lord Alderdice

New England Journal of Public Policy

Wars are often marked by technological advances and while the front line in the confrontation in the Russia-Ukraine War is between the two countries concerned, many other countries are also involved in bringing a range of weapons to bear. Some, such as drones and satellite communications, are not entirely new, but are playing a greater role than before. They are also being combined with more definitively new technologies such as artificial intelligence. However, the older ways of warfare are still center stage. Not only has there been a return of war in Europe between major powers, but even the trench …

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

This issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy, with Lord John Alderdice as the guest editor, examines how, with the advent of sophisticated technologies and AI, the conduct of wars and peacemaking in the opening decades of the twenty-first century has changed, with implications for the future of both and society at large.

Understanding The Indirect Strategy Moment In Global Affairs, Kumar Ramakrishna

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article argues that policymakers need to better grasp what can best be understood as the “indirect strategy moment” in global affairs. It explains what is meant by indirect strategy in the classical strategic thought, before analyzing how indirect strategy has already been applied in the post-Cold War era. The article will then illustrate how indirect strategy is being applied in the cyber, social media, and telecommunications domains, before arguing that adopting “indirect strategy lenses” appears to be rather important in order to better frame current and ongoing geostrategic developments across a range of issues and domains. A recurring theme …

Pioneering The Digital Frontier: Cmi's Approach To Forward-Looking Dialogues, Johanna Poutanen, Felix Kufus

New England Journal of Public Policy

As contemporary conflicts grow increasingly complex, new approaches to peacemaking are needed. This article outlines how CMI – Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation (CMI) incorporates technology-enhanced foresight methodologies into its dialogue and mediation work. Digital tools, such as software dedicated to data analysis and visualization, play a key role in CMI’s foresight approach by facilitating broad-based data collection and participatory analysis. Interactive visual aids foster collective sense-making and help challenge entrenched mindsets of conflict stakeholders. The article illustrates how foresight approaches can be used to develop shared future visions and facilitate collaboration even in the context of stalled peace processes.

Personal Reflections From A Grassroots Peacebuilding Journey, Mark Clark

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article presents the author’s personal reflections from experiences over the past thirty years, working at the intersection of leadership development, complexity, and conflict: a journey from corporate law, the British Army, and armed conflict, through the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the US-led coalition’s intervention in Iraq, emergency humanitarian response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and violence reduction and post-conflict reconciliation in Papua New Guinea, to a Jordan-based international peacebuilding organization that supports grassroots peacebuilding efforts in fifty-two countries, and finally a return home to Scotland. It is a journey of naïveté, hubris, curiosity, and an …

Reconciling Moral Dissonance: A Framework For Re-Integrating Moral Orientation With Life Agency During Warfighters’ Struggles With Military Moral Injury, Jeffrey L. Zust

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses case studies to critically examine the Three Mirror Model (TMM) as a framework for understanding the formation and healing of Military Moral Injury (MMI). I adapt the work of Stephen Brookfield and Neal Krause to evaluate using the TMM as a methodology for dealing with the complex issues of MMI within a military deployment cycle (training, warfighting, and healing) (Brookfield 2012, 2017; Krause 2022). Specifically, I use theorists, researchers, healers, and warfighters as key stakeholders to identify and critically examine the intersections of disciplines and the subsets of models where warfighters’ moral orientations and moral agency form …

The Foundations Of Civilian Supremacy: Civil-Military Relations During The American Civil War, Riley Callahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American Civil War was the defining event that shaped civil-military relations in the United States. This master's thesis explores the multifaceted dynamics between civilian and military leadership during this crucial period in American history. It examines the relationship between civilian political authority and the military establishment, while incorporating the related roles of Congress, public opinion and international influences. The research explores the decision-making processes, the balance of power, and the impact of leadership styles and personalities on civil-military interactions during times of armed conflict.

This thesis explores in particular the significance of President Lincoln's leadership, his ability to manage …

Comparing The Us Response To The Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan And The Russian Invasion Of Ukraine: Learning From The Past And Planning For The Future, Zachary Hogan

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

As the Russo-Ukrainian war continues to rage, the decisions of the present are of paramount importance. In order to make the most positive and well-supported decisions in this ongoing conflict, it would be wise to look to past instances of similar situations. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is such an instance. The parallels between the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the past Soviet invasion of Afghanistan are extensive and, more importantly, informative for U.S. foreign policy. It is with this lens that this paper will pursue a historical foreign policy analysis of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, its circumstances and …

Small Island Risks: Research Reflections For Disaster Anthropologists And Climate Ethnographers, Crystal A. Felima

UK CARES Faculty Publications

Disasters and climate-related events, including tropical storms, droughts, coastal erosion, and ocean acidification, threaten small island nations. Given the urgency of reducing disaster risks and the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations, this reflection essay pursues three objectives. First, it highlights the role of anthropology, ethnography, and multi-sited research in exploring disaster impacts, climate crises, and public policy in island communities. It then highlights national planning and inter-regional activities to build awareness of various risk reduction efforts by island nations and multi-governmental organizations. This article concludes with discussion prompts to engage researchers, scholars, students, and practitioners studying and working …

Understanding The Knowledge Production Function Of The United Nations: The Case Of The Sahel Crisis, Hussein E. Elshaar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis aims to test the argument that the UN knowledge production on the situation in the Sahel region is internally consistent and externally valid with the knowledge produced by other entities beyond the UN, including academia and think tanks. The thesis analyzed external studies by scholars and research and academic institutions as well as UN knowledge production, mainly the UN strategic frameworks and the reports of the Secretary-General on the Sahel. The study followed an analytical framework that sought to answer specific questions about how these studies, frameworks, and reports frame the conflict in the Sahel, and what root …

Implication Of Artificial Intelligence On National Security For The Nigeria Security Agencies, Musa Zakari

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The study examines the implications of AI for national security in Nigeria in the field of military logistics for Nigerian security agencies. A documentary research design was utilized for the study. Document analysis of existing policies, reports, and case studies related to AI and national security in Nigeria was utilized. The study revealed that artificial intelligence (AI) has significant prospects for national security for Nigeria's security agencies. It was revealed that AI-powered technologies enable advanced surveillance capabilities, such as facial recognition and video analytics, which aid in identifying potential threats and monitoring security situations more effectively. The Air Force uses …

Strategic Pathways To Minimal Deterrence And Counter-Terrorism: Enhancing Brunei’S Defense Capabilities, Brice Tseen Fu Lee, Filip Komšić, Juan Pablo Sims

Journal of Terrorism Studies

This paper explores the strategic enhancement of Brunei’s military capabilities under the guidelines of the Brunei Defense White Paper 2021, focusing on establishing a robust minimal level deterrence. It emphasizes transitioning from conventional defense paradigms to an integrated, technologically advanced military structure tailored to contemporary and future security challenges. The significance of minimal level deterrence is analyzed, illustrating how a proportionate and efficient military force not only deters potential aggressors but also supports counter-terrorism efforts. This approach underscores the dual benefits of ensuring national security while facilitating economic stability and growth, allowing Brunei to allocate resources more effectively between defense …

Eritrean Element: An Overview Of The Relationship Between Eritrea And Ltte During The Sri Lankan Civil War, Punsara Amarasinghe

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The timely imperative of identifying these links is rooted in understanding how external factors assisted one of the most advanced terrorist organizations in the world to accomplish its task. Furthermore, this paper discusses two path dimensions of LTTE-Eritrean relations by examining arm trade and logistics support given by Asmara to LTTE. Furthermore, this paper discusses two path dimensions of LTTE-Eritrean relations by examining arm trade and logistics support given by Asmara to LTTE. The emerging results from this paper prove the Bush administration's hypothesis of describing Eretria as a state sponsor of terrorism along with North Korea.

The Shift In The Roles Of Local Emergency Management Agencies In The Planning And Response To Civil Unrest, Howard Ray Simons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Local government's response to civil unrest has continually shown a concerning level of unpreparedness and how quickly inundated local government becomes during a response to civil unrest. The theoretical framework used for this study is knowledge management due to its ability to be used in different disciplines like emergency management, safety, and business. This framework is used to get all stakeholders to work in concert to attain strategically planned goals. The research question explored how the local emergency manager's knowledge and experience directly impacted strategic planning, response, and community relations during a civil unrest event? The research design was a …

Raven Sentry: Employing Ai For Indications And Warnings In Afghanistan, Thomas W. Spahr

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article examines Raven Sentry, a project that employed artificial intelligence to provide advance warning of insurgent attacks in Afghanistan. During 2019 and 2020, the Resolute Support Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (J2) benefited from a command culture open to innovation, the urgency created by the US drawdown, and a uniquely talented group of personnel that, aided by commercial sector experts, built an AI system that helped predict attacks. The war’s end cut Raven Sentry short, but the experience provides important lessons on AI and the conditions necessary for successful innovation.

The Combat Path: Sustaining Mental Readiness In Ukrainian Soldiers, Oleh Hukovskyy, James C. West, Joshua C. Morganstein, Eugene F. Augusterfer, David M. Benedek, Oleg Boyko, Robert J. Ursano, Amy B. Adler

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

In Ukraine, soldiers’ psychological resilience is of paramount concern. Therefore, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have developed a new intervention, Combat Path Debriefing, designed to address combat stress and promote unit readiness for soldiers returning to combat. This article outlines the components of Combat Path Debriefing and discusses how it is rooted in principles of combat and operational stress control and the unique characteristics of Ukrainian military life. This perspective offers US and allied leaders real-world experience that can inform future efforts to support soldiers’ mental health and combat performance.