Digital Commons Network^™

The Absence Of Europe: Implications For International Security?, Steven Philip Kramer

Strategic Forums

Facing a worsening economic situation and a war in Iraq that will be difficult to end—in short, grave overstretch—the next U.S. adminis- tration will seek to return to a more multilateral foreign policy and attempt to work closely with Europe. But Europe may not be willing or able to meet American expectations to play a larger role in international security.

A Methodology For Assessing The Military Benefits Of Science And Technology Investments, Albert Sciarretta, Richard Chait, Joseph N. Mait, Jordan Willcox

Defense and Technology Papers

This paper discusses approaches developed at CTNSP, at the request of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology, for measuring the benefits of today’s science and technology (S&T) investments on the future military.

Irregular Warfare: New Challenges For Civil-Military Relations, Patrick M. Cronin

Strategic Forums

Success in the highly political and ambiguous conflicts likely to dominate the global security environment in the coming decades will require a framework that balances the relationships between civilian and military leaders and makes the most effective use of their different strengths. These challenges are expected to require better integrated, whole-of-government approaches, the cooperation of host governments and allies, and strategic patience.

Defense Transformation À La Française And U.S. Interests, Leo G. Michel

Strategic Forums

France has embarked on a transformation of its national security strategy, structures, capabilities, and relationships with Allies and other international partners. At its core, this transformation reflects a growing French consensus that globalization—especially the emergence of new, less predictable threats and vulnerabilities—has profoundly altered defense requirements since the last comprehensive review in the mid-1990s. But President Nicolas Sarkozy, faced with a large budget deficit, is determined to meet those requirements without near-term increases in defense spending.

Good Bugs, Bad Bugs: A Modern Approach For Detecting Offensive Biological Weapons Research, Michael Moodie, Cheryl Loeb, Robert E. Armstrong, Helen Purkitt

Defense and Technology Papers

This report outlines a new framework to monitor countries in terms of their potential to engage in covert biological weapons research. This is an effort to develop an indirect approach to measuring a nation’s capability to conduct offensive weapons research in both civilian and government or military settings.

Programming Development Funds To Support A Counterinsurgency: Nangarhar, Afghanistan, Michelle Parker

Defense and Technology Papers

This paper describes one method of programming development funds at a sub-national level to positively affect a counterinsurgency, in this case, in Eastern Afghanistan. It explores how one interagency group, the Jalalabad Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), developed and implemented a strategy for increasing stability in its area of operations by maximizing the resources each agency brought to the table and creating “unity of effort.”

Joint Force Quarterly 50 (3rd Quarter, July 2008), National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly ARCHIVES

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of The Science And Technology Predictions In The Army’S Star21 Report, John W. Lyons, Richard Chait, Jordan Willcox

Defense and Technology Papers

This paper reviews the technology forecast assessments of the Strategic Technologies for the Army of the Twenty-First Century (STAR21) study conducted for the Army by the National Research Council in the early 1990s.

Building The S And E Workforce For 2040: Challenges Facing The Department Of Defense, Timothy Coffey

Defense and Technology Papers

This paper examines some of the trends that have led to the government’s inability to maintain adequate technical competence and/or is not making proper use of the competence that it has maintained. It focuses on the government component of the model and it is expected that many of the same considerations will apply to the quasi-government component, also.

International Partnerships To Combat Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Paul I. Bernstein

WMD Occasional Papers

Building international partnerships is a central element of U.S. strategy to combat weapons of mass destruction (WMD). U.S. policy recognizes that the proliferation problem is far too large, complex, and important for any one nation to tackle alone. Meaningful and sustained progress in combating WMD requires active collaboration among all states that have a stake in managing the problem and the will and capacity to contribute. Current policies build on a foundation of global cooperation that dates back decades, even as they reflect significant changes in emphasis to adapt to contemporary proliferation challenges.

These challenges result in large part from …

Joint Force Quarterly 49 (2nd Quarter, April 2008), National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly ARCHIVES

No abstract provided.

China’S Science And Technology Emergence: A Proposal For U.S. Dod-China Collaboration In Fundamental Research, William Berry, Cheryl Loeb

Defense and Technology Papers

This report proposes the establishment of a constructive, phased strategy for engaging in collaborative fundamental research with Chinese academic institutions. Recent evaluations of top S&T universities and their specific capabilities suggest appropriate scientific areas where beneficial collaborations between DoD and China should be fostered.

So Many Zebras, So Little Time: Ecological Models And Counterinsurgency Operations, Mark D. Drapeau, Peyton C. Hurley, Robert E. Armstrong

Defense Horizons

This paper explores how ecological and biological models can help inform the understanding of counterinsurgency operations and irregular conflict. Drawing parallels between predator-prey dynamics in nature and interactions between insurgent and counterinsurgent forces, the authors look at how ecological frameworks may provide analytical insight into complex adaptive behaviors, force relationships, and operational environments. While ecological models cannot fully explain the complexity of warfare, they can offer useful conceptual tools for analyzing insurgency dynamics, adaptation, and strategic interaction in irregular warfare environments.

Joint Force Quarterly 48 (1st Quarter, January 2008), National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly ARCHIVES

No abstract provided.

Cyber Influence And International Security, Franklin D. Kramer, Larry Wentz

Defense Horizons

This paper examines the growing role of cyber influence in shaping international security, strategic competition, and state behavior in the information age. It explores how information technologies, digital networks, and cyber capabilities are increasingly used to influence political outcomes, shape perceptions, disrupt adversaries, and advance national objectives below the threshold of conventional conflict. This paper analyzes the strategic implications of cyber-enabled influence operations for U.S. national security and discusses the evolving challenges posed by information dominance, technological interconnectivity, and nontraditional forms of conflict in the digital era.

From Reform To Reduction: Reports On The Management Of Navy And Department Of Defense Laboratories In The Post-Cold War Era, J. Eric Hazell

Books

This book reviews approximately 65 of the significant reports issued on Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of the Navy (DON) management of research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) from the end of the Cold War through the late 1990s. It is designed for two primary audiences: (1) DOD, congressional, and other government staff who need an accessible overview and quick reference and bibliographic guide to issues during that period; and (2) researchers and historians, especially those interested in available sources. The book is organized both chronologically and thematically, and engages some of the principal arguments, regarding management of defense …

After The Surge: Next Steps In Iraq?, Judith S. Yaphe

Strategic Forums

The U.S. military “surge” initiated in mid-2007 in Baghdad and neighboring Iraqi provinces has been largely successful in military terms. It has helped to lower the level of violence suffered by Iraqis and Americans alike and, in tandem with other steps, has restored a measure of security to western Iraq and portions of Baghdad. Yet military operations alone are insufficient to restore stability and keep the country intact.

Coping With The Dragon: Essays On Pla Transformation, Neyla Arnas, Tai Ming Cheung, David C. Gompert, Stuart E. Johnson, Martin Libicki, Timothy Lo, Duncan Long, Michael Mcdevitt, James Mulvenon, David Shlapak

Books

Should the independence movement in Taiwan regain political momentum, however, the potential for U.S. military intervention in the Taiwan Strait would increase. Further, the perception of U.S. vulnerability in the region could invite assertiveness. So, despite the fact that armed conflict between the United States and China is in no one’s interest, China’s burgeoning power requires that critical factors in U.S. plans for the defense of Taiwan be examined. This collection of essays offers just such an examination. It looks at China’s growing strength, the strategies underlying U.S. plans for military intervention in the Strait, U.S. vulnerabilities, and options for …

Joint Force Quarterly 47 (4th Quarter, October 2007), National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly ARCHIVES

No abstract provided.

Implications Of An Independent Kosovo For Russia’S Near Abroad, Zoe Hunter, Samuel T. Schwabe, Melissa Sinclair, Michael H. Hoffman, Michael Baranick, Daniel L. Burghart

Defense and Technology Papers

This paper evaluates the argument that Kosovo’s situation represents a precedent for separatists elsewhere by comparing it to the four regions in the Former Soviet Union most often cited in relation to it and is intended to highlight the similarities and differences between these cases, to facilitate negotiations on the resolution of the final status of Kosovo.

The Country Team: Restructuring America’S First Line Of Engagement, Robert B. Oakley, Michael Casey

Strategic Forums

U.S. Embassies face unprecedented challenges. The kinds of issues that confound governments today—from organized crime, drug trafficking, and terrorism to nuclear proliferation, human rights, ethnosectarian conflict, global disease, and climate change—no longer fit within diplomacy’s traditional categories.¹ Just as nonstate actors everywhere are becoming more powerful, regions of geostrategic importance in the developing world find themselves beset by weak or dysfunctional governments and increasingly perilous socioeconomic situations. While some might reasonably question the categorical quality of the 2002 National Security Strategy’s assertion that “America is now threatened less by conquering states than we are by failing ones,” there is …

A Further Look At Technologies And Capabilities For Stabilization And Reconstruction Operations, Richard Chait, Albert Sciarretta, John W. Lyons, Charles L. Barry, Dennis Shorts, Duncan Long

Defense and Technology Papers

This present study resumes where the first study left off, expanding on identifying capability needs and possible technology solutions to the S&R problems facing the force today and in the future.

U.S. Support For Un Peacekeeping: Areas For Additional Dod Assistance, Nancy Soderberg

Defense and Technology Papers

This report addresses primarily those areas in which limited DoD involvement will provide multiplier benefits to U.S. Security. While beyond the scope of this study, a government-wide, comprehensive review of possible assistance should be conducted.

Trans-American Security: What’S Missing?, Luigi R. Einaudi

Strategic Forums

The countries of the Western Hemisphere are more integrated than ever, with both each other and countries elsewhere, but critical aspects of their relationships remain hampered by outdated patterns and stereotypes. As the United States has focused on terrorism in the Middle East and Asia, its neighbors are developing more assertive roles on the world stage.

Joint Force Quarterly 46 (3rd Quarter, July 2007), National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly ARCHIVES

No abstract provided.

Privatizing While Transforming, Marion E. “Spike” Bowman

Defense Horizons

This paper examines the expanding role of private contractors in modern U.S. military operations and the challenges created by their growing presence in conflict zones. As contractors assume functions once performed by military personnel, including logistics, security, training, and interrogation, existing legal, regulatory, and operational frameworks struggle to keep pace. The paper explores how privatization in the contemporary battlespace is reshaping civil-military relationships, accountability, and the laws governing armed conflict.

Responding In The Homeland: A Snapshot Of Nato’S Readiness For Cbrn Attacks, Michael Moodie, Robert E. Armstrong, Tyler Merkeley

Defense Horizons

The possibility of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members having to respond to a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) incident is not a hypothetical scenario reserved for training exercises. Indeed, a number of countries worldwide have considerable experience in dealing with a variety of naturally occurring, accidental, and deliberate CBRN incidents. NATO itself, however, has no clear conceptual vision of its role in civil emergencies because preparedness of this sort remains a national responsibility.

For many years, NATO’s military forces have addressed CBRN issues as part of their military planning. But the question remains as to how NATO nations …

Breakthrough Air Force Capabilities Spawned By Basic Research, William Berry, Cheryl Loeb

Defense and Technology Papers

This paper will focus on scientific discoveries that have already lead to new capabilities for the Air Force, as well as those discoveries that will lead to the new capabilities envisioned in the 2004 Flight plan and 2006 Posture Statement and those yet to be envisioned.

Joint Force Quarterly 45 (2nd Quarter, April 2007), National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly ARCHIVES

No abstract provided.

I-Power: The Information Revolution And Stability Operations, Franklin D. Kramer, Larry Wentz, Stuart Starr

Defense Horizons

This paper examines how information and information technology can improve the effectiveness of stability operations when integrated into a broader civilian-military strategy. It argues that coordinated planning, data-sharing, international partnerships, and host-nation focused information systems can strengthen stabilization and reconstruction efforts. This piece emphasizes the importance of collaborative governance, commercial technology, and integrated information management in supporting long-term stability operations.