Digital Commons Network^™

The Urgency Of Warfighting Renewal: Five Principles For Today’S Professional Military Education, Christopher M. Marcell, Gaylon L. Mcalpine, Reagan E. Schaupp, Joseph L. Varuolo

Joint Force Quarterly

This article highlights the urgent need to reform Professional Military Education (PME) to prioritize warfighting skills and strategic thinking, as called for in the 2018 National Defense Strategy. Despite recent updates to include China and Russia-focused content, PME programs remain misaligned with their core mission of developing leaders proficient in the art and science of war.

A key challenge is the growing number of external requirements unrelated to warfighting—such as climate security and diversity initiatives—that dilute PME’s focus and weaken instructional quality. The authors recommend establishing a central authority to vet these requirements and ensure they align with warfighting priorities. …

Being Believed: Persuasion And The Narrative In Military Operations, Brent A. Lawniczak

Joint Force Quarterly

This article examines the vital role of persuasive narratives in modern military operations, highlighting their power to shape perceptions, influence behavior, and achieve strategic objectives across the competition continuum. Narratives are described as unifying stories that provide context, coherence, and clarity to military actions, ensuring alignment between words and deeds while promoting credibility and unity of effort.

The article also explores the key elements of effective narratives—setting, characters, plot, and moral—and identifies factors that enhance their persuasiveness. These include emotional appeal, simplicity, consistency with audience values, relatable characters, trust in the narrator, and resonance with cultural and historical contexts.

Military …

The Art Of Campaigning: Joint Planners Working At The Intersections Of Everything, Mary Bell, Edgar M. Hollandsworth, Thomas J. Snukis, Jeffrey Turner, Luke P. Bellocchi, Nicholas Anthony, Steve Tribble, Chris Botterbusch, Justin D. Harper

Joint Force Quarterly

This article examines the evolution of military campaigning from traditional large-scale combat operations to ongoing efforts that shape the global environment and achieve long-term strategic goals. It highlights the role of Combatant Command Campaign Plans (CCPs) in aligning national strategies with operational objectives and addressing modern challenges like cyber, cognitive, and information warfare.

Key topics include the importance of a Combatant Commander’s (CCDR) vision, the integration of global and regional plans, and the use of strategic wargaming to refine approaches. The article also addresses challenges such as delays in guidance, fragmented planning structures, and adapting to dynamic environments.

Finally, it …

Adopting A Data-Centric Mindset For Operational Planning, Jeremiah Hurley, Morgan Greene

Joint Force Quarterly

The Department of Defense (DOD) is investing heavily in advanced technologies, but its true advantage lies in adopting a data-centric mindset that prioritizes the collection, integration, and use of data to drive faster, smarter decision-making. To modernize its outdated operational planning processes, the DOD must replace static tools like PowerPoint and spreadsheets with real-time data visualizations, automated systems, and standardized data collection templates. By formalizing a "data-first" culture, operational planning can identify and address critical information gaps, improve battlefield awareness, and accelerate mission execution. This approach enables commanders to make more informed decisions while unlocking the full potential of artificial …

Preparing For Adversary Employment Of Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons: Tactical Effects, Operational Impacts, Strategic Implications, James H. Gifford

Joint Force Quarterly

For over 30 years after the Cold War, the U.S. largely dismissed the threat of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. However, recent nuclear threats from adversaries like Russia have highlighted the need to revisit U.S. strategies. Tactical nuclear weapons differ from strategic ones by their delivery systems, not their destructive power. On the battlefield, they could cause casualties, disrupt missions, and overwhelm medical resources. Operationally, they could create logistical challenges, civilian panic, and delays in military responses. Strategically, even a limited nuclear strike could escalate quickly, requiring leaders to carefully balance deterrence, messaging, and responses to avoid all-out nuclear …

Executive Summary, William T. Eliason

Joint Force Quarterly

This issue of Joint Force Quarterly explores the fall of Bashar al-Asad’s regime in Syria, marking a major geopolitical shift with significant implications for the Middle East and beyond. It examines the role of U.S. and NATO strategies in this outcome and raises critical questions about post-conflict support and the future military posture in the region.

Key topics include managing risk in U.S. national security decisions, the strategic implications of Russia’s vast nonstrategic nuclear arsenal, and the rising role of artificial intelligence in military planning. Insights are provided on enhancing joint warfighting capabilities, improving military education, and modernizing command systems …

Joint Force Quarterly, Issue 116, 1st Quarter 2025, National Defense University Press

Joint Force Quarterly

Joint Force Quarterly 116 explores key challenges and innovations in military strategy, operations, and global security. The Forum section examines how the U.S. approaches risk in its strategy, the impact of nonstrategic nuclear weapons, and the importance of using data-driven methods in planning military operations.

In JPME Today, articles focus on how joint military campaigns succeed, the role of storytelling and persuasion in operations, and the urgent need to modernize professional military education.

The Commentary section highlights Ireland's strategic role in securing Europe’s western flank and evaluates whether China’s military overestimates the potential of artificial intelligence.

The Features section dives …

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems & International Law: Growing Momentum Towards A New International Treaty, Benjamin Perrin

All Faculty Publications

While existing international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international human rights law provide foundational rules and principles governing LAWS, gaps in specificity and enforcement highlight the pressing need for a dedicated international treaty. Such a treaty could harmonize interpretations, establish clear prohibitions and restrictions, and ensure accountability in the use of these technologies.

China Maritime Report No. 44: Dirty But Preparing To Fight: Vadm Li Pengcheng's Downfall Amid Increasing Plan Readiness, Christopher H. Sharman, Andrew S. Erickson

CMSI China Maritime Reports

Main Findings

• Although corruption runs deep in the PLA Navy (PLAN) and across China’s armed forces, disciplinary-related removals appear not to have a major impact on naval capabilities or operations.
• The fight against corruption within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has General Secretary Xi Jinping’s attention and appears to be picking up steam for 2025. The Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) issued a report on 25 December 2024 identifying Vice Admiral Li Pengcheng (李鹏程) as one of eight NPC deputies removed for “serious violations of discipline and the law.”
• Li was an officer on the fast …

Water Security In The Wake Of Arizona V. Navajo Nation: How The President’S Emergency Powers Can Provide A Path Forward For The Navajo Nation, Kelly Bridges

University of Chicago Legal Forum

In 2023, the Supreme Court decided Arizona v. Navajo Nation, finding that the United States government does not have an affirmative duty to ensure the Navajo Nation’s water security. The decision offers the Navajo two paths forward for relief: the tribe can either litigate specific water rights claims in the Colorado River Basin or lobby the President and Congress to amend an 1868 treaty, the language of which served as the basis for the holding in Navajo Nation. These paths forward are not without problems. Litigating water rights claims is costly and time-intensive, sometimes taking decades to be decided. As …

Climatizing National Security, Mark Nevitt

University of Chicago Legal Forum

Is climate change a national security issue? Human security? Ecological security? This Article addresses the growing nexus between climate change and various conceptions of security with a particular emphasis on climate change's national security impacts. This Article argues that there is a growing connection between national security and climate change and a corresponding need to address the normative implications of "climatizing national security." This connection can be observed through three lenses: mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas emissions from military and national security sources); adaptation (investing in climate resilient infrastructure in an effort to prepare for climate impacts), and response (addressing climate-exacerbated …

A Transformational Agenda For National Security, Maryam Jamshidi

University of Chicago Legal Forum

Past efforts to "reimagine" national security in legal scholarship have largely avoided systematic engagement with the foundational assumptions and presumptions of the field. Challenging and critiquing those assumptions is, however, necessary to producing scholarly work that reimagines, rather than reproduces, status quo approaches to U.S. national security. This Article presents an agenda for reimagining national security through legal scholarship, which is premised on the view that challenging the national security status quo should be part of those efforts. In doing so, this agenda explores seven premises central to how U.S. national security is currently conceived of, practiced, and implemented. Moving …

Addressing Ip And Technology Challenges To Pandemic Protection: A Need For Global Coordination To Promote National Security, Cynthia M. Ho

University of Chicago Legal Forum

This Article argues that effective national security mandates protection against the spread of infectious diseases, which requires addressing intellectual property (IP) and technology obstacles. Without modification, IP laws can bar the manufacture of needed treatments by anyone besides the IP owner and its licensees. Although there was some recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic that existing IP laws should be modified, there was strong resistance not only by IP-owning companies, but also by individual countries that impeded the ability to manufacture needed vaccines during the height of the pandemic.

Many global leaders have recognized that future pandemics are inevitable and that …

War Powers And The Return Of Major Power Conflict, Scott R. Anderson

University of Chicago Legal Forum

The United States is, by many accounts, facing a renewed risk of major power conflict. This Article considers what the reemergence of this risk may mean for the executive branch's operational understanding of constitutional war powers, specifically as they relate to the use of military force. After outlining the relationship between U.S. strategic concerns and executive branch legal interpretations and reviewing the most recent historical parallel the Truman administration's reconsideration of war powers in the early Cold War it examines three aspects of the executive branch's current understanding for tensions with the strategic demands of major power conflict: the anticipated …

The Eschatological Vision Of The Abolition Of Man, Joshua J. Paladino

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

C. S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man is ultimately an eschatological work, a vision of the end of history, a warning about the fully conditioned society, an insight into the nature of the universal and homogeneous state, and even a prophecy of Hell on Earth. The end-times significance of the Abolition is perhaps overlooked because it lacks an apocalyptic framing. Lewis presented, rather, a “snug” eschatology.1 There is none of the apocalyptic drama that Lewis crafted in The Last Battle. We do not hear the Lion roar, “Now it is time,” before watching Father Time squeeze the sun in his …

Mamluk And Ottoman Remains In The Al-Wata Quarter, Safed (Zefat) (Pp. 113–137), Hervé Barbé

'Atiqot

The salvage excavation in the al-Wata quarter of Safed revealed that the development of this sector of the city began as early as the early Mamluk period. This is further reinforced by the Arabic historical sources. The pottery suggests that occupation began as early as the thirteenth century, with some vessels clearly dating to the Frankish period. The numismatic study adds credence to this conclusion. The historical data and the archaeological finds, including a seventeenth-century coin, hint that the site was also occupied in the first half of the Ottoman period; however, no building remains from this period were identified.

Long–Term Performance And Stability Of Implanted Neural Interfaces In Individuals With Lower Limb Loss, Eileen Petros, Michael Miller, Jeremy Dunning, Gilles Pinault, Dustin Tyler, Ronald Triolo, Hamid Charkhkar

Student Scholarship

Objective. High-density nerve cuffs have been successfully utilized to restore somatosensation in individuals with lower-limb loss by interfacing directly with the peripheral nervous system. Elicited sensations via these devices have improved various functional outcomes, including standing balance, walking symmetry, and navigating complex terrains. Deploying neural interfaces in the lower limbs of individuals with limb loss presents unique challenges, particularly due to repetitive muscle contractions and the natural range of motion in the knee and hip joints for transtibial and transfemoral amputees, respectively. This study characterizes the long-term performance of these peripheral nerve interfaces, which is crucial for informing design modifications …

Safeguarding Submarine Cables And Pipelines In Times Of Peace And War, Raul (Pete) Pedrozo

International Law Studies

Incidents involving damage to undersea infrastructure illustrate the vulnerability of submarine cables and pipelines. While damage can occur accidentally in peacetime, recent incidents suggest cables and pipelines are being systematically targeted and that the resulting damage is not accidental or the result of poor seamanship. Most undersea infrastructure can also be attacked as a military objective in wartime. Peacetime adversaries or opposing belligerents during an armed conflict can easily damage undersea infrastructure to further their political, strategic, or wartime objectives. These incidents also highlight the inadequacy of coastal State authority under international law to take measures against foreign-flagged vessels intentionally …

From Africa To Appalachia: The Tie That Binds, The Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University

The Reece Museum Exhibition Publications

The Reece Museum is home to a communal collection of artifacts that help us remember and retell stories that are important to our identities as a community. The objects we choose to collect, display, and research act as historical documents that form the foundation of the lore that comprises our living narratives, which are “ever evolving, out of the stories of our most recent ancestors” (Bastet and Houlbrook 2023, 188). The movement of collections from personal stories and belongings into collective and institutional artifacts is something I spend a lot of time thinking about.

I learned to enjoy collecting from …

How Safe Is Safe Enough? Analyzing The Incentive Structure Of The Products Liability Scheme On Commercial Aviation Manufacturers, Ethan Schwab

University of Miami Law Review

How do aviation manufacturers work to prevent tragedy? After tragedy strikes, how does the legal system’s imposition of a remedy change the operations and decision-making of these manufacturers, if at all? This Note explores whether the current products liability framework effectively achieves the goals of tort law—including whether it deters unsafe innovation in the high-risk commercial aviation manufacturing industry. The Note explores these topics through the lens of the recent Boeing 737 Max disasters of 2018 and 2019, using such disasters to exemplify the skewed incentive structure that manufacturers face in the modern products liability tort system. This Note argues …

Four Hebrew Seals, One Depicting And Assyrian-Like Archer, From The Western Wall Plaza Excavations, Jerusalem (Pp. 115–129), Tallay Ornan, Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, Zvi Greenhut, Benjamin Sass, Yuval Goren

'Atiqot

Four Hebrew seals were unearthed in an Iron Age II building excavated opposite the Western Wall, Jerusalem. All four seals are inscribed in Hebrew of the eighth–seventh centuries BCE, but each was executed by a different ‘hand’. One of the seals (No. 4) exhibits the image of a standing archer, inspired by Assyrian imagery, depicted here for the first time on a seal with a Hebrew inscription. The seals, and the pottery found in association with them, indicate that the building belonged to people of an upper class, possibly holding a high rank in the kingdom of Judah.

Attacks Against Civilian Objects: An Analysis Under International Humanitarian Law, Salem Aessa Farhat, Rohaida Nurdin, Salawati Bit Basir

Hasanuddin Law Review

Civilian airports in recent internal armed conflict are being affected by the military operations of state armed forces and non-state armed groups. A review of the recent internal armed conflict in the middle east shows increase attacks on airports, which often disrupts, altogether halts civilian navigation, and increase the risk of being affected despite the fact that international humanitarian law (IHL) does prohibit such civilian objects attack that violates humanitarian law except in certain situations when it became military objectives. Moreover, military use of airport, may not justify any attack and remains prohibited by other IHL principles. Despite the negative …

Children Rights To "Zero Hunger" And The Execution Challenges During The Covid-19 Crisis, Nurul Hidayat Binti Ab Rahman, Redwan Bin Yasin

Hasanuddin Law Review

Zero hunger is the world's pledge under the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, which aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition. Nevertheless, the mission had been seized as the world faced economic turndown due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. The circumstances have brutally affected societies ideal living standards and raised social problems such as extreme poverty, famishment, malnutrition, and medical conditions, specifically among vulnerable children. The essential purpose of this writing is to elucidate the zero hunger goal as one of the central legal rights and identify challenges in executing it during the COVID-19 crisis. Data …

The Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Armed Conflict Under International Law, Naek Siregar, Desy Churul Aini, Rehulina Rehulina, Agit Yogi Subandi, Isroni Muhammad Miraj Mirza

Hasanuddin Law Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technological achievement that simulates human intelligence through machines or computer programs. The integration of AI in military operations aims to minimize combatant casualties and enhance effectiveness in warfare. Despite the advantages and significance of this research, concerns arise regarding the ideal implementation of AI in armed conflicts due to potential security challenges. A significant issue lies in the legal perspective governing AI as a comprehensive defense tool. This paper employs a juridical normative research method based on a statutory approach to provide a descriptive analysis and examine the regulatory framework surrounding AI in armed conflict. …

Water Quality Contributions Of Selected Buffalo River Headwaters In Searcy County, Arkansas, 2019–2023, Patrick Michael Dyer

Student Theses and Dissertations

Regulated by the National Park Service since 1972, the Buffalo River faces nitrogen, phosphorous, sediment, and fecal coliform contamination. Research assessing tributary water quality began with collecting water samples weekly from November 2019 until January 2023 (n = 156) near Tyler Bend Campgrounds. Pairwise analysis measured minimal water quality change from upstream to downstream on four headwater creeks. Data revealed that Tomahawk Creek’s fecal coliform bacteria were elevated above background levels, frequently exceeding state standards. National Land Cover Dataset class data were extracted to index land use at different scales. Simple linear regression, stepwise multiple linear regression, and a random …

A New Treaty For Fully Autonomous Weapons: A Need Or A Want?, Maskun Maskun, Rafika Nurul Hamdani Ramli

Hasanuddin Law Review

Autonomous Weapon System (AWS) is still discussed and is considered to the principle of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) particular the principle of distinction and proportionality. In line with moral and ethical issues, some experts and global citizens agree that AWS will likely to distract moral and ethical on a battlefield and are never able to replace human’s feeling. Human beings are responsible over AWS because there is no such a fully autonomous weapons exist. It is always a human commander behind the actions. To bridge the situation on discussion of AWS, a new treaty should be created in order to …

The Possibility Of Vice-Presidents’ Authority Arrangement In The 1945 Constitution Through Constitutional Amendment, Fajar L. Suroso

Hasanuddin Law Review

The debate over the vice-presidents’ authority reappeared in the administration of President Jokowi after the “authority expansion of the Chief of Presidency Staff” and the case of “Rizal Ramli vs Jusuf Kalla”. This article is intended to provide arguments for the idea of some parties to organize more explicit and detailed the authority of vice-president in the 1945 Constitution. The idea arises from the absence of further arrangement on the authority of vice-president in the 1945 Constitution. This article is systematized into 3 (three) sub-theme; 1) the arrangement of the vice-presidents’ authority in the constitution for several countries; 2) The …

Institutional Restructuring To Sustain Regulatory Reform In Indonesia, Wicipto Setiadi

Hasanuddin Law Review

There are numerous institutions in Indonesia that form regulations with its exceeding number of regulators may result in poor quality regulations. The outcome leads to regulations being over-regulated, overlapping, disharmony, and conflict. Hence, steps are needed to be taken to overcome in order for more improved and comprehensive regulation in Indonesia. A key factor to overcome poor conditions of regulation in Indonesia is by applying the good regulatory practice. Referring to the practice, there are several standards or principles that can be used as references. Apart from this, taking institutional restructuring into consideration, an establishment of a single institution to …

Reconciliation Of Humanitarian Law And Human Rights Law In Armed Conflict, Muhammad Ashri

Hasanuddin Law Review

A common insight on human rights law as an instrument that aimed to protect the human dignity and values are often regarded to be separate from international humanitarian law. In relation to the norms, the difference between the two concepts related to the current conflict arise many debates. This paper reviews the common thread of the two international legal instruments. The connection between the two can be elaborated by explaining the concept; similarities and dissimilarities; and linking the basis for the establishment of legal instruments between human rights law and international humanitarian law. The results of research indicated that between …

The Miserable Loss From Yemeni Conflict: Can International Law Provide Reparation For Mental Injury?, Komang Ayu Nuriasih, I Made Budi Arsika

Hasanuddin Law Review

As the home of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, Yemen can be an example to reveal how horrifying the mental health issues in conflicting areas can be. Since 2014, the ongoing conflict in Yemen has been resulting not merely in physical losses and injuries, but also mental catastrophe as its inevitable consequence. This article is a legal research that aims to analyze how mental injuries or psychological damages are being acknowledged as a real impact of armed conflict, to further be considered as a precondition for the reparation at the end of the conflict. The article suggests that the acknowledgment …